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ROBERT   BROWNING'S   WRITINGS. 


POEMS   AND    DRAMAS.     2  vols.  i6ino. 

MEN   AND   WOMEN,      i  vol.  i6mo. 

SORDELLO,     STRAFFORD,      CHRISTMAS-EVE,     AND 

EASTER-DAY.     i  vol.  i6mo. 
DRAMATIS   PERSONS,     i  vol.  i6mo. 
THE   RING  AND   THE   LOOK.     2  vols.  161110. 


Published  in  uniform  size  and  style  ;  each  work  sold  separately, 
or  the  set  complete  in  box.     Price  per  volume,  $2.00. 

*  ^  *  Scut,  postpaid,  on  receipt  of  price,  by  the  Publishers, 

J'^MES    R.    OSGOOD    &    CO., 

134:  Tremont  Street,  Boston, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE 


INCLUDING 


A  Transcript  from  Euripides. 

/r/c 


BY 


ROBERT    BROWNING. 


BOSTON: 
JAMES    R.   OSGOOD    AND    COMPANY, 

(late   TICKNOR  &    FIELDS,    AND    FIELDS,   OSGOOD,    &    CO.) 
187I. 


AUTHOR'S    EDITION. 
Fro7n  Advance  Sheets. 


Boston : 
Stereotyped iitid Prittted by  Rand,  Avery,  &"  Frye. 


To  the  Countess  Cowper. 

TF  I  ine7ttion  the  simple  truth :  that  this  Poem  absolutely  owes  its 
existence  to  you,  —  who  not  only  stiggested,  but  imposed  on  me  as 
a  task,  what  has  proved  the  most  delightful  of  May-month  amuse- 
ments, —  /  sJiall  seem  honest,  indeed,  but  hardly  pricdent ;  for  hozo 
good  and  beautiful  ought  such  a  poem  to  be  ! 

Euripides  might  fear  little  ;  but  I,  also,  have  an  interest  in  the  per- 
formance ;  and  what  wonder  if  I  beg  you  to  suffer  that  it  make,  in 
another  and  far  easier  sense,  its  nearest  possible  approach  to  those 
Greek  qicalities  of  goodness  and  beauty,  by  laying  itself  gratefully  at 
your  feet  ? 

R.  B. 

London,  July  23,  1871. 


OUR   EURIPIDES,   THE   HUMAN, 

WITH    HIS   DROPPINGS   OF  WARM   TEARS, 
AND   HIS  TOUCHES  OF  THINGS  COMMON 

TILL  THEY  ROSE  TO  TOUCH  THE   SPHERES. 


2. 


Balaustion's  Adventure. 


About  that  strangest,  saddest,  sweetest  song 
I,  when  a  girl,  heard  in  Kameiros  once, 
And,  after,  saved  my  life  by  ?     Oh,  so  glad 

To  tell  you  the  adventure  ! 

Petale, 
Phullis,  Charope,  Chrusion  !     You  must  know, 
This  "  after  "  fell  in  that  unhappy  time 
When  poor  reluctant  Nikias,  pushed  by  fate, 
Went  falteringly  against  Syracuse  ; 
And  there  shamed  Athens,  lost  her  ships  and  men, 
And  gained  a  grave,  or  death  without  a  grave. 

I  was  at  Rhodes  —  the  isle,  not  Rhodes  the  town  ; 

7 


8  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Mine  was  Kameiros  — when  the  news  arrived  : 

Our  people  rose  in  tumult,  cried,  "  No  more 

Duty  to  Athens  !  let  us  join  the  League, 

And  side  with  Sparta,  share  the  spoil,  —  at  worst, 

Abjure  a  headship  that  will  ruin  Greece  !  " 

And  so,  they  sent  to  Knidos  for  a  fleet 

To  come  and  help  revolters.     Ere  help  came,  — 

Girl  as  I  was,  and  never  out  of  Rhodes 

The  whole  of  my  first  fourteen  years  of  life. 

But  nourished  with  Ilissian  mother's-milk,  — 

I  passionately  cried  to  who  would  hear. 

And  those  who  loved  me  at  Kameiros,  "  No  ! 

Never  throw  Athens  off  for  Sparta's  sake, — 

Never  disloyal  to  the  life  and  light 

Of  the  whole  world  worth  calling  world  at  all ! 

Rather  go  die  at  Athens,  lie  outstretched 

For  feet  to  trample  on,  before  the  gate 

Of  Diomedes  or  the  Hippadai, 

Before  the  temples  and  among  the  tombs, 

Than  tolerate  tlie  grim  felicity 

Of  harsh  Lakonia !     Ours  the  fasts  and  feasts, 


BALA  us TION  'S  AD  VENTURE. 

Choes  and  Chutroi ;  ours  the  sacred  grove, 

Agora,  Dikasteria,  Poikile, 

Piiux,  Keramikos  ;  Salamis  in  sight ! 

Psuttalia,  Marathon  itself,  not  far  ! 

Ours  the  great  Dionusiac  theatre, 

And  tragic  triad  of  immortal  fames, 

Aischulos,  Sophokles,  Euripides  ! 

To  Athens,  all  of  us  that  have  a  soul, 

Follow  me  !  "     And  I  wrought  so  with  my  prayer. 

That  certain  of  my  kinsfolk  crossed  the  strait. 

And  found  a  ship  at  Kaunos  ;  well-disposed 

Because  the  Captain  —  where  did  he  draw  breath 

First  but  within  Psuttalia  ?     Thither  fled 

A  few  like-minded  as  ourselves.     We  turned 

The  glad  prow  westward  ;  soon  were  out  at  sea, 

Pushing,  brave  ship  with  the  vermilion  cheek. 

Proud  for  our  heart's  true  harbor.     But  a  wind 

Lay  ambushed  by  Point  Malea  of  bad  fame, 

And  leapt  out,  bent  us  from  our  course.     Next  day 

Broke  stormless,  and  so  next  blue  day  and  next. 

"  But  whither  bound  in  this  white  waste  ?  "  we  plagued 


lo  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

The  pilot's  old  experience  :  "  Cos,  or  Crete  ?  " 

Because  he  promised  us  the  land  ahead. 

While  we  strained  eyes  to  share  in  what  he  saw, 

The  captain's  shout  startled  us ;  round  we  rushed  : 

What  hung  behind  us  but  a  pirate-ship 

Panting  for  the  good  prize  ?     "  Row  !  harder  row  ! 

Row  for  dear  life !  "  the  captain  cried :  "  'tis  Crete, 

Friendly  Crete,  looming  large  there  !     Beat  this  craft, 

That's  but  a  keles,  one-benched  pirate-bark, 

Lokrian,  or  that  bad  breed  off  Thessaly  ! 

Only,  so  cruel  are  such  water-thieves, 

No  man  of  you,  no  woman,  child,  or  slave, 

But  falls  their  prey,  once  let  them  board  our  boat !  " 

So,  furiously  our  oarsmen  rowed  and  rowed  ; 

And  when  the  oars  flagged  somewhat,  dash  and  dip, 

As  we  approached  the  coast  and  safety,  so 

That  we  could  hear  behind  us  plain  the  threats 

And  curses  of  the  pirate  panting  up 

In  one  more  throe  and  passion  of  pursuit,  — 

Seeing  our  oars  flag  in  the  rise  and  fall, 

I  sprang  upon  the  altar  by  the  mast, 


BALAUSriON'S  ADVENTURE. 

And  sang  aloft  —  some  genius  prompting  me  — 
That  song  of  ours  which  saved  at  Salamis  : 
"  O  sons  of  Greeks  !  go,  set  your  countiy  free, 
Free  your  wives,  free  your  children,  free  the  fanes 
O'  the  gods,  your  fathers  founded,  —  sepulchres 
They  sleep  in  !     Or  save  all,  or  all  be  lost ! " 
Then,  in  a  frenzy,  so  the  noble  oars 
Churned  the  black  water  white,  that  well  away 
We  drew,  soon  saw  land  rise,  saw  hills  grow  up, 
Saw  spread  itself  a  sea-wide  town  with  towers, 
Not  fifty  stadio  distant ;  and,  betwixt, 
A  large  bay  and  a  small,  the  islet-bar, 
7     Even  Ortugia's  self —  oh,  luckless  we  ! 
For  here  was  Sicily  and  Syracuse  : 
We  ran  upon  the  lion  from  the  wolf 
Ere  we  drew  breath,  took  counsel,  out  there  came 
A  galley,  hailed  us :     "  Who  asks  entry  here 
In  war-time  ?     Are  you  Sparta's  friend  or  foe  ?  " 
"  Kaunians,"  —  our  captain  judged  his  best  reply, 
"  The  mainland-seaport  that  belongs  to  Rhodes  ; 
Rhodes  that  casts  in  her  lot  now  with  the  League, 


12  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Forsaking  Athens,  —  you  have  heard  belike  !  " 

"  Ay,  but  we  heard  all  Athens  in  one  ode 

Just  now  !  we  heard  her  in  that  Aischulos  ! 

You  bring  a  boatful  of  Athenians  here, 

Kaunians  although  you  be  ;  and  prudence  bids 

For  Kaunos'  sake,  why,  carry  them  unhurt 

To  Kaunos,  if  you  will :  for  Athens'  sake. 

Back  must  you,  though  ten  pirates  blocked  the  bay  ! 

We  want  no  colony  from  Athens  here, 

With  memories  of  Salamis,  forsooth, 

To  spirit  up  our  captives,  that  pale  crowd 

r  the  quarry,  whom  the  daily  pint  of  corn 

Keeps  in  good  order  and  submissiveness." 

Then  the  gray  captain  prayed  them  by  the  gods. 

And  by  their  own  knees,  and  their  fathers'  beards. 

They  should  not  wickedly  thrust  suppliants  back. 

But  save  the  innocent  on  traffic  bound,  — 

Or,  maybe,  some  Athenian  family 

Perishing  of  desire  to  die  at  home,  — 

From  that  vile  foe  still  lying  on  its  oars. 

Waiting  the  issue  in  the  distance.     Vain  ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  1 3 

Words  to  the  wind  !     And  we  were  just  about 

To  turn  and  face  the  foe,  as  some  tired  bird 

Barbarians  pelt  at,  drive  with  shouts  away 

From  shelter  in  what  rocks,  however  rude, 

She  makes  for,  to  escape  the  kindled  eye. 

Split  beak,  crook'd  claw,  o'  the  creature,  cormorant, 

Or  ossifrage,  that,  hardly  baffled,  hangs 

Afloat  i'  the  foam,  to  take  her  if  she  turn.^ 

So  were  we  at  destruction's  very  edge, 

When  those  o'  the  galley,  as  they  had  discussed 

A  point,  a  question  raised  by  somebody, 

A  matter  mooted  in  a  moment,  —  "  Wait !  " 

Cried  they  (and  wait  we  did,  you  may  be  sure), 

"  That  song  was  veritable  Aischulos, 

Familiar  to  the  mouth  of  man  and  boy, 

Old  glory  :  how  about  Euripides  ? 

The  newer  and  not  yet  so  famous  bard. 

He  that  was  born  upon  the  battle-day 

While  that  song  and  the  salpinx  sounded  him 

Into  the  world,  first  sound,  at  Salamis  — 

Might  you  know  any  of  his  verses  too  ?  " 


14  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Now,  some  one  of  the  gods  inspired  tliis  speech  : 

Since  ourselves  knew  what  happened  but  last  year  — 

How,  when  Gulippos  gained  his  victory 

Over  poor  Nikias,  poor  Demosthenes, 

And  Syracuse  condemned  the  conquered  force 

To  dig  and  starve  i'  the  quarry,  branded  them  — 

Freeborn  Athenians,  brute-like  in  the  front 

With  horse-head  brands, — ah,  "  Region  of  the  Steed  !  " 

Of  all  these  men  immersed  in  misery. 

It  was  found  none  had  been  advantaged  so 

By  aught  in  the  past  life  he  used  to  prize 

And  pride  himself  concerning,  —  no  rich  man 

By  riches,  no  wise  man  by  wisdom,  no 

Wiser  man  still  (as  who  loved  more  the  Muse) 

By  storing,  at  brain's  edge  and  tip  of  tongue, 

Old  glory,  great  plays  that  -had  long  ago 

Made  themselves  wings  to  fly  about  the  world,  — 

Not  one  such  man  was  helped  so  at  his  need 

As  certain  few  that  (wisest  they  of  all) 

Had,  at  first  summons,  oped  heart,  flung  door  wide, 

At  the  new  knocking  of  Euripides, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  15 

Nor  drawn  the  bolt  with  who  cried  "  Decadence  ! 
T-  And,  after  Sophokles,  be  nature  dumb  !  " 
Such,  —  and  I  see  in  it  God  Bacchos'  boon 
To  souls  that  recognized  his  latest  child. 
He  who  himself,  born  latest  of  the  gods, 
Was  stoutly  held  impostor  by  mankind,  — 
Such  were  in  safety  :  any  who  could  speak 
A  chorus  to  the  end,  or  prologize, 
Roll  out  a  rhesis,  wield  some  golden  length 
Stiffened  by  wisdom  out  into  a  line. 
Or  thrust  and  parry  in  bright  monostich. 
Teaching  Euripides  to  Syracuse  — 
Any  such  happy  man  had  prompt  reward : 
If  he  lay  bleeding  on  the  battle-field 
They  stanched  his  wounds,  and   gave    him   drink    and 

food  ; 
If  he  were  slave  i'  the  house,  for  reverence 
They  rose  up,  bowed  to  who  proved  master  now. 
And  bade  him  go  free,  thank  Euripides  ! 
Ay,  and  such  did  so :  many  such,  he  said. 
Returning  home  to  Athens,  sought  him  out, 


1 6  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

The  old  bard  in  the  soHtary  house, 

And  thanked  him  ere  they  went  to  sacrifice. 

I  say,  we  knew  that  story  of  last  year  ! 

Therefore,  at  mention  of  Euripides, 
The  captain  crowed  out  "  Euoi,  praise  the  God  ! 
Oop,  boys,  bring  our  owl-shield  to  the  fore  ! 
Out  with  our  Sacred  Anchor !     Here  she  stands, 
Balaustion  !     Strangers,  greet  the  lyric  girl ! 
Euripides  ?     Babai !  what  a  word  there  'scaped 
Your  teeth's  enclosure,  quoth  my  grandsire's  song ! 
Why,  fast  as  snow  in  Thrace,  the  voyage  through. 
Has  she  been  falling  thick  in  flakes  of  him  ! 
Frequent  as  figs  at  Kaunos,  Kaunians  said. 
Balaustion,  stand  forth  and  confirm  my  speech  ! 
Now  it  was  some  whole  passion  of  a  play  ; 
Now,  peradventure,  but  a  honey-drop 
That  slipt  its  comb  i'  the  chorus.     If  there  rose 
A  star,  before  I  could  determine  steer 
Southward  or  northward  —  if  a  cloud  surprised 
Heaven,  ere  I  fairly  hollaed  '  Furl  the  sail !  '  — 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  1 7 

She  had  at  finger's  end  both  cloud  and  star  ; 

Some  thought  that  perched  there,  tame  and  tuneable, 

Fitted  with  wings  ;  and  still,  as  ofif  it  flew, 

'  So  sang  Euripides,'  she  said,  '  so  sang 

The  meteoric  poet  of  air  and  sea, 

Planets  and  the  pale  populace  of  heaven. 

The  mind  of  man,  and  all  that's  made  to  soar  ! ' 

And  so,  although  she  has  some  other  name, 

We  only  call  her  Wild-pomegranate-flower, 

Ealaustion  ;  since,  where'er  the  red  bloom  burns 

I'  the  dull  dark  verdure  of  the  bounteous  tree. 

Dethroning,  in  the  Rosy  Isle,  the  rose, 

You  shall  find  food,  drink,  odor,  all  at  once  ; 

CoqI  leaves  to  bind  about  an  aching  brow, 

And,  never  much  away,  the  nightingale. 

Sing  them  a  strophe,  with  the  turn-again, 

Down  to  the  verse  that  ends  all,  proverb-like, 

And  save  us,  thou  Ealaustion,  bless  the  name  1 " 

But  I  cried,  "  Brother  Greek  !  better  than  so,  — 
Save  us,  and  I  have  courage  to  recite 


1 8  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

The  main  of  a  whole  play  from  first  to  last ; 

That  strangest,  saddest,  sweetest  song  of  his,- 

Alkestis  ;  which  was  taught,  long  years  ago 

At  Athens,  in  Glaukinos'  archonship, 

But  only  this  year  reached  our  Isle  o'  the  Rose. 

I  saw  it  at  Kameiros  ;  played  the  same. 

They  say,  as  for  the  right  Lenean  feast 

In  Athens  ;  and  beside  the  perfect  piece,  — 

Its  beauty  and  the  way  it  makes  you  weep,  — 

There  is  much  honor  done  your  own  loved  God 

Herakl^es,  whom  you  house  i'  the  city  here 

Nobly,  the  Temple  wide  Greece  talks  about  ! 

I  come  a  suppliant  to  your  Herakles  ! 

Take  me  and  put  me  on  his  temple-steps, 

To  tell  you  his  achievement  as  I  may. 

And,  that  told,  he  shall  bid  you  set  us  free  !  " 

Then,  because  Greeks  are  Greeks,  and  hearts  are  hearts, 
And  poetry  is  power,  —  they  all  outbroke 
In  a  great  joyous  laughter  with  much  love  : 
"  Thank  Herakles  for  the  good  holiday  ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  19 

Make  for  the  harbor !     Row,  and  let  voice  ring, 
'  In  we  row,  bringing  more  Euripides  ! ' 
All  the  crowd,  as  they  lined  the  harbor  now, 
'  More  of  Euripides  ! '  —  took  up  the  cry. 
We  landed  ;  the  whole  city,  soon  astir. 
Came  rushing  out  of  gates  in  common  joy 
To  the  suburb  temple  ;  there  they  stationed  me 
O'  the  topmost  step  :  and  plain  I  told  the  play, 
Just  as  I  saw  it ;  what  the  actors  said, 
And  what  I  saw,  or  thought  I  saw  the  while, 
At  our  Kameiros  theatre,  clean-scooped 
Out  of  a  hill-side,  with  the  sky  above 
And  sea  before  our  seats  in  marble  row  : 
Told  it,  and,  two  days  more,  repeated  it. 
Until  they  sent  us  on  our  way  again 
With  good  words  and  great  wishes. 

Oh,  for  me  !  — 
A  wealthy  Syracusan  brought  a  whole 
Talent,  and  bade  me  take  it  for  myself : 
I  left  it  on  the  tripod  in  the  fane,  — 
For  had  not  Herakles  a  second  time 


2  0  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Wrestled  with  Death,  and  saved  devoted  ones  ?  — 

Thank-offering  to  the  hero.     And  a  band 

Of  captives,  whom  their  lords  grew  kinder  to 

Because  they  called  the  poet  countryman, 

Sent  me  a  crown  of  wild-pomegranate-flower  : 

So,  I  shall  live  and  die  Balaustion  now. 

But   one  —  one   man  —  one   youth,  —  three   days,  each 

day,  — 
(If,  ere  I  lifted  up  my  voice  to  speak, 
I  gave  a  downward  glance  by  accident) 
Was  found  at  foot  o'  the  temple.     When  we  sailed, 
There,  in  the  ship,  too,  was  he  found  as  well, 
Having  a  hunger  to  see  Athens  too. 
We  reached  Peiraieus  ;  when  I  landed  —  lo, 
He  was  beside  me.     Anthesterion-month 
Is  just  commencing:  when  its  moon  rounds  full, 
We  are  to  marry.     O  Euripides  ! 
I  saw  the  master :  when  we  found  ourselves 
(Because  the  young  man  needs  must  follow  me) 
Firm  on  Peiraieus,  I  demanded  first 
Whither  to  go  and  find  him.     Would  you  think  ? 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  : 

The  story  how  he  saved  us  made  some  smile  : 

They  wondered  strangers  were  exorbitant 

In  estimation  of  Euripides. 

He  was  not  Aischulos  nor  Sophokles : 

—  "  Then,  of  our  younger  bards  who  boast  the  ba}', 

Had  I  sought  Agathon,  or  lophon, 

Or,  what  now  had  it  been  Kephisophon  ? 

A  man  that  never  kept  good  company, 

The  most  unsociable  of  poet-kind, 

All  beard  that  was  not  freckle  in  his  face ! " 

I  soon  was  at  the  tragic  house,  and  saw 

The  master,  held  the  sacred  hand  of  him, 

And  laid  it  to  my  lips.     Men  love  him  not : 

How  should  they  ?     Nor  do  they  much  love  his  friend 

Sokrates  :  but  those  two  have  fellowship  ; 

Sokrates  often  comes  to  hear  him  read, 

And  never  misses  if  he  teach  a  piece. 

Both,  being  old,  will  soon  have  company. 

Sit  with  their  peers  above  the  talk.     Meantime, 

He  lives  as  should  a  statue  in  its  niche  ; 


2  2  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Cold  walls  enclose  him,  mostly  darkness  there, 
Alone,  unless  some  foreigner  uncouth 
Breaks  in,  sits,  stares  an  hour,  and  so  departs, 
Brain-stuffed  with  something  to  sustain  his  life, 
Dry  to  the  marrow  'mid  much  merchandize. 
How  should  such  know  and  love  the  man  ? 

Why,  mark! 
Even  when  I  told  the  play  and  got  the  praise, 
There  spoke  up  a  brisk  little  somebody, 
Critic  and  whippersnapper,  in  a  rage 
To  set  things  right :  "  The  girl  departs  from  truth  ! 
Pretends  she  saw  what  was  not  to  be  seen. 
Making  the  mask  of  the  actor  move,  forsooth  ! 
'  Then  a  fear  flitted  o'er  the  wife's  white  face,'  — 
'  Then  frowned  the  father,'  — 'then  the  husband  shook,' - 
'  Then  from  the  festal  forehead  slipt  each  spray, 
'  And  the  heroic  mouth's  gay  grace  was  gone ; ' 
As  she  had  seen  each  naked  fleshly  face. 
And  not  the  merely-painted  mask  it  wore  !  " 
Well,  is  the  explanation  difficult  ? 
What's  poetry  except  a  power  that  makes  ? 


STATE  NORMAL  SG/ 

BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE?^  Aftfi/ss,  ^"^^ 

And,  speaking  to  one  sense,  inspires  the  rest, 
Pressing  them  all  into  its  service ;  so 
That  who  sees  painting,  seems  to  hear  as  well 
The  speech  that's  proper  for  the  painted  mouth  ; 
And  who  hears  music,  feels  his  solitude 
Peopled  at  once —  for  how  count  heart-beats  plain 
Unless  a  company,  with  hearts  which  beat. 
Come  close  to  the  musician,  seen  or  no  ? 
And  who  receives  true  verse  at  eye  or  ear, 
Takes  in  (with  verse)  time,  place,  and  person  too. 
So,  links  each  sense  on  to  its  sister-sense, 
Grace  like  :  and  what  if  but  one  sense  of  three 
Front  you  at  once  ?     The  sidelong  pair  conceive 
Through  faintest  touch  of  finest  finger-tips  — 
Hear,  see,  aiid  feel,  in  faith's  simplicity,  ■ 
Alike,  what  one  was  sole  recipient  of: 
Who  hears  the  poem,  therefore,  sees  the  play. 

Enough  and  too  much  !     Hear  the  play  itself ! 
Under  the  grape-vines,  by  the  streamlet-side, 
Close  to  Baccheion  ;  till  the  cool  increase. 


24  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

And  other  stars  steal  on  the  evening-star, 

And  so,  we  homeward  flock  i'  the  dusk,  we  five  ! 

You  will  expect,  no  one  of  all  the  words 

O'  the  play  but  is  grown  part  now  of  my  soul, 

Since  the  adventure.     'Tis  the  poet  speaks  : 

But  if  I,  too,  should  try  and  speak  at  times. 

Leading  your  love  to  where  my  love,  perchance. 

Climbed  earlier,  found  a  nest  before  you  knew  — 

Why,  bear  with  the  poor  climber,  for  love's  sake ! 

Look  at  Baccheion's  beauty  opposite. 

The  temple  with  the  pillars  at  the  porch  ! 

See  you  not  something  beside  masonry  ? 

What  if  my  words  wind  in  and  out  the  stone 

As  yonder  ivy,  the  god's  parasite  ? 

Though  they  leap  all  the  way  the  pillar  leads, 

Festoon  about  the  marble,  foot  to  frieze. 

And  serpentiningly  enrich  the  roof. 

Toy  with  some  few  bees  and  a  bird  or  two,  — 

What  then  ?     The  column  holds  the  cornice  up  ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  25 


There  slept  a  silent  palace  in  the  sun, 

With  plains  adjacent  and  Thessalian  peace  — 

Pherai,  where  King  Admetos  ruled  the  land. 

Out  from  the  portico  there  gleamed  a  god, 

Apollon  :  for  the  bow  was  in  his  hand, 

The  quiver  at  his  shoulder,  all  his  shape 

One  dreadful  beauty.     And  he  hailed  the  house, 

As  if  he  knew  it  well  and  loved  it  much  : 

"  O  Admeteian  domes  !  where  I  endured, 

Even  the  god  I  am,  to  drudge  a  while. 

Accepting  the  slave's  table  thankfully. 

Do  righteous  penance  for  a  reckless  deed  ! " 

Then  told  how  Zeus  had  been  the  cause  of  all. 

Raising  the  wrath  in  him  which  took  revenge, 

And  slew  those  forgers  of  the  thunderbolt 

Wherewith  Zeus  blazed  the  life  from  out  the  breast 

Of  Phoibos'  son  Asklepios  (I  surmise. 


2  6  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Because  he  brought  the  dead  to  Hfe  again), 

And  so,  for  punishment,  must  needs  go  slave, 

God  as  he  was,  with  a  mere  mortal  lord : 

—  Told  how  he  came  to  King  Admetos'  land, 

And  played  the  ministrant,  was  herdsman  there, 

V/arding  from  him  and  his  all  harm  away 

Till  now ;  "  For,  holy  as  I  am,"  said  he, 

"  The  lord  I  chanced  upon  was  holy  too  : 

Whence  I  deceived  the  Moirai,  drew  from  death 

My  master,  this  same  son  of  Pheres,  —  ay. 

The  goddesses  conceded  him  escape 

From  Hades,  when  the  fated  day  should  fall, 

Could  he  exchange  lives,  find  some  friendly  one 

Ready,  for  his  sake,  to  content  the  grave. 

But  trying  all  in  turn,  the  friendly  list. 

Why,  he  found  no  one,  none  who  loved  so  much, 

Nor  father,  raor  the  aged  mother's  self 

That  bore  him,  no,  not  any  save  his  wife, 

Willing  to  die  instead  of  him,  and  watch 

Never  a  sunrise  nor  a  sunset  more  ; 

And  she  is  even  now  within  the  house, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  2^ 

Upborne  by  pitying  hands,  the  feeble  frame 

Gasping  its  last  of  life  out ;  since  to-day 

Destiny  is  accomplished,  and  she  dies ; 

And  I,  lest  here  pollution  light  on  me. 

Leave,  as  ye  witness,  all  my  wonted  joy 

In  this  dear  dwelling.     Ay,  —  for  here  comes  Death 

Close  on  us  of  a  sudden  !  who,  pale  priest 

Of  the  mute  people,  means  to  bear  his  prey 

To  the  house  of  Hades.     The  symmetric  step  ! 

How  he  treads  true  to  time  and  place  and  thing. 

Dogging  day,  hour,  and  minute,  for  death's-due  !  " 

And  we  observed  another  deity. 

Half  in,  half  out  the  portal,  —  watch  and  ward,  — 

Eying  his  fellow  :  formidably  fixed, 

Yet  faltering  too  at  who  affronted  him. 

As  somehow  disadvantaged,  should  they  strive. 

Like  some  dread  heapy  blackness,  ruffled  wing, 

Convulsed  and  cowering  head  that  is  all  eye. 

Which  proves  a  ruined  eagle,  who,  too  blind 

Swooping  in  quest  o'  the  quarry,  fawn,  or  kid. 

Descried  deep  down  the  chasm  'twixt  rock  and  rock. 


28  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Has  wedged  and  mortised,  into  either  wall 

O'  the  mountain,  the  pent  earthquake  of  his  power ; 

So  lies,  half  hurtless  yet  still  terrible, 

Just  when  who  stalks  up,  who  stands  front  to  front, 

But  the  great  lion-guarder  of  the  gorge. 

Lord  of  the  ground,  a  stationed  glory  there  ! 

Yet  he  too  pauses  ere  he  try  the  worst 

O'  the  frightful  unfamiliar  nature,  new 

To  the  chasm,  indeed,  but  elsewhere  known  enough, 

Among  the  shadows  and  the  silences 

Above  i'  the  sky  :  so,  each  antagonist 

Silently  faced  his  fellow  and  forbore. 

Till  Death  shrilled,  hard  and  quick,  in  spite  and  fear 

"  Ha,  ha  !  and  what  may'st  thou  do  at  the  domes, 
Why  hauntest  here,  thou  Phoibos  ?     Here  again 
At  the  old  injustice,  limiting  our  rights. 
Balking  of  honor  due  us  gods  o'  the  grave ! 
Was  't  not  enough  for  thee  to  have  delayed 
Death  from  Admetos,  —  with  thy  crafty  art 
Cheating  the  very  Fates,  —  but  thou  must  arm 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  29 

The  bow-hand  and  take  station,  press  'twixt  me 
And  Pelias'  daughter,  who  then  saved  her  spouse,  — ■ 
Did  just  that,  now  thou  comest  to  undo,  — 
Taking  his  place  to  die,  Alkestis  here  ? " 
But  the  god  sighed,  "  Have  courage  !     All  my  arms, 
This  time,  are  simple  justice  and  fair  words." 

Then  each  plied  each  with  rapid  interchange  : 

"What  need  of  bow  were  justice  arms  enough  ?  " 

"  Ever  it  is  my  wont  to  bear  the  bow." 

"  Ay,  and  with  bow,  not  justice,  help  this  house  !  " 

"  I  help  it,  since  a  friend's  woe  weighs  me  too." 

"  And  now,  —  wilt  force  from  me  this  second  corpse  ? " 

''  By  force  I  took  no  corpse  at  first  from  thee." 


30  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  How  then  is  he  above  ground,  not  beneath  ? " 

"  He  gave  his  wife  instead  of  him,  thy  prey." 

"  And  prey,  this  time  at  least,  I  bear  below  !  " 

"  Go  take  her !  —  for  I  doubt  persuading  thee  ..." 

"  To  kill  the  doomed  one  ?     What  my  function  else  ? " 

"  No  !     Rather,  to  despatch  the  true  mature." 

"  Truly  I  take  thy  meaning,  see  thy  drift !  " 

"  Is  there  a  way  then  she  may  reach  old  age  ? " 

"  No  way  !  I  glad  me  in  my  honors  too  !  " 

"  But,  young  or  old,  thou  tak'st  one  life,  no  more  ?  " 

"  Younger  they  die,  greater  my  praise  redounds ! " 


BALA  US T/ON 'S  .AD  VENTURE.  3 1 

"  If  she  die  old,  —  the  sumptuous  funeral !  " 

"Thou  layest  down  a  law  the  rich  would  like." 

"  How  so  ?     Did  wit  lurk  there  and  'scape  thy  sense  ?  " 

"  Who  could  buy  substitutes  would  die  old  men." 

"  It  seems  ihou  wilt  not  grant  me,  then,  this  grace  ?  " 

"  This  grace  I  will  not  grant :  thou  know'st  my  ways." 

"  Ways  harsh  to  men,  hateful  to  gods,  at  least !  " 

*'  All  things  thou  canst  not  have  :  my  rights  for  me  !  " 

And  then  Apollon  prophesied,  —  I  think, 
More  to  himself  than  to  impatient  Death, 
Who  did  not  hear  or  would  not  heed  the  while,  — 
For  he  went  on  to  say,  "  Yet  even  so. 
Cruel  above  the  measure,  thou  shalt  clutch 


32  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

No  life  here  !     Such  a  man  do  I  perceive 
Advancing  to  the  house  of  Pheres  now, 
Sent  by  Eurustheus  to  bring  out  of  Thrace, 
The  winter  world,  a  chariot  with  its  steeds  ! 
He  indeed,  when  Admetos  proves  the  host, 
And  he  the  guest,  at  the  house  here,  —  he  it  is 
Shall  bring  to  bear  such  force,  and  from  thy  hands 
Rescue  this  woman !     Grace  no  whit  to  me 
Will  that  prove,  since  thou  dost  thy  deed  the  same, 
And  earnest  too  my  hate,  and  all  for  nought !  " 

But  how  should  Death  or  stay  or  understand  ? 

Doubtless,  he  only  felt  the  hour  was  come. 

And  the  sword  free  ;  for  he  but  flung  some  taunt,  — 

"  Having  talked  much,  thou  wilt  not  gain  the  more ! 

This  woman  then  descends  to  Hades'  hall 

Now  that  I  rush  on  her,  begin  the  rites 

O'  the  sword ;  for  sacred  to  us  gods  below. 

That  head  whose  hair  this  sword  shall  sanctify ! " 

And,  in  the  fire-flash  of  the  appalling  sword, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  33 

The  uprush  and  the  outburst,  the  onslaught 
Of  Death's  portentous  passage  through  the  door, 
Apollon  stood  a  pitying  moment-space  : 
I  caught  one  last  gold  gaze  upon  the  night 
Nearing  the  world  now  :  and  the  god  was  gone, 
And  mortals  left  to  deal  with  misery ; 
As  in  came  stealing  slow,  now  this,  now  that 
Old  sojourner  throughout  the  country-side, 
Servants  grown  friends  to  those  unhappy  here  : 
And,  cloudlike  in  their  increase,  all  these  griefs 
Broke  and  began  the  over-brimming  wail, 
Out  of  a  common  impulse,  word  by  word. 

"Whatever  means  the  silence  at  the  door? 
Why  is  Admetos'  mansion  stricken  dumb  ? 
Not  one  friend  near,  to  say  if  we  should  mourn 
Our  mistress  dead,  or  still  Alkestis  live 
And  see  the  light  here,  Pelias'  child  —  to  me. 
To  all,  conspicuously  the  best  of  wives 
That  ever  was  toward  husband  in  this  world ! 
Hears  any  one  or  wail  beneath  the  roof, 


34  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Or  hands  that  strike  each  other,  or  the  groan 

Announcing  all  is  done  and  nought  to  dread  ? 

Still  not  a  servant  stationed  at  the  gates  ! 

O  Paian,  that  thou  would'st  dispart  the  wave 

O'  the  woe,  be  present !     Yet,  had  woe  o'erwhelmed 

The  housemates,  they  were  hardly  silent  thus : 

It  cannot  be,  the  dead  is  forth  and  gone. 

Whence  comes  thy  gleam  of  hope  ?  I  dare  not  hope  : 

What  is  the  circumstance  that  heartens  thee  ? 

How  could  Admetos  have  dismissed  a  wife 

So  worth)',  unescorted  to  the  grave  ? 

Before  the  gates  I  see  no  hallowed  vase 

Of  fountain-water,  such  as  suits  death's  door ; 

Nor  any  dipt  locks  strew  the  vestibule. 

Though  surely  these  drop  when  we  grieve  the  dead  ; 

Nor  sounds  hand  smitten  against  youthful  hand. 

The  woman's  way.     And  yet  —  the  appointed  time- 

How  speak  the  word  ?  —  this  day  is  even  the  day 

Ordained  her  for  departing  from  its  light. 

O  touch  calamitous  to  heart  and  soul ! 

Needs  must  one,  when  the  good  are  tortured  so, 


■       BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  35 

Sorrow,  —  one  reckoned  faithful  from  the  first." 

Then  their  souls  rose  together,  and  one  sigh 

Went  up  in  cadence  from  the  common  mouth : 

How  "Vainly  —  any  whither  in  the  world 

Directing  or  land-labor  or  sea-search  — 

To  Lukia  or  the  sand-waste,  Ammon's  seat  — 

Might  you  set  free  their  hapless  lady's  soul 

From  the  abrupt  Fate's  footstep  instant  now. 

Not  a  sheep-sacrificer  at  the  hearths 

Of  gods  had  they  to  go  to  :  one  there  was 

Who,  if  his  eyes  saw  light  still, —  Phoibos'  son, — 

Had  wrought  so,  she  might  leave  the  shadowy  place 

And  Hades'  portal ;  for  he  propped  up  Death's 

Subdued  ones,  till  the  Zeus-flung  thunder-flame 

Struck  him :  and  now  what  hope  of  life  to  hail 

With  open  arms  ?    For  all  the  king  could  do 

Is  done  already,  —  not  one  god  whereof 

The  altar  fails  to  reek  with  sacrifice : 

And  for  assuagement  of  these  evils  —  nought !  " 


36  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

But  here  they  broke  off ;  for  a  matron  moved 

Forth  from  the  house  :  and,  as  her  tears  flowed  fast, 

They  gathered  round.     "  What  fortune  shall  we  hear  ? 

To  mourn  indeed,  if  aught  affect  thy  lord, 

We  pardon  thee :  but  lives  the  lady  yet, 

Or  has  she  perished  ?  —  that  we  fain  would  know  !  " 

"Call  her  dead,  call  her  living,  each  style  serves,"      -  — 
The   matron    said :    "  though  grave-wards    bowed,    sht 

breathed  ; 
Nor  knew  her  husband  what  the  misery  meant 
Before  he  felt  it :  hope  of  life  was  none  : 
The  appointed  day  pressed  hard  ;  the  funeral  pomp 
He  had  prepared  too." 

When  the  friends  broke  out, 
"  Let  her  in  dying  know  herself  at  least 
Sole  wife,  of  all  the  wives  'neath  the  sun  wide, 
For  glory  and  for  goodness  !  "  —  "  Ah,  how  else 
Than  best  ?  who  controverts  the  claim  ?  "  quoth  she  : 
"  What  kind  of  creature  should  the  woman  prove 
That  has  surpassed  Alkestis  ?  —  surelier  shown 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  37 

Preference  for  her  husband  to  herself 
Than  by  determining  to  die  for  him  ? 
But  so  much  all  our  city  knows-  indeed : 
Hear  what  she  did  indoors  and  wonder  then  ! 
For,  when  she  felt  the  crowning  day  was  come, 
She  washed  with  river-waters  her  white  skin, 
And,  taking  from  the  cedar  closets  forth 
Vesture  and  ornament,  bedecked  herself 
Nobly,  and  stood  before  the  hearth,  and  prayed  : 
'  Mistress,  because  I  now  depart  the  world. 
Falling  before  thee  the  last  time,  I  ask  — 
Be  mother  to  my  orphans  1  wed  the  one 
To  a  kind  wife,  and  make  the  other's  mate 
Some  princely  person  :  nor,  as  I  who  bore 
My  children  perish,  suffer  that  they  too 
Die  all  untimely,  but  live,  happy  pair. 
Their  full  glad  life  out  in  the  fatherland  ! ' 
And  every  altar  through  Admetos'  house 
She  visited  and  crowned  and  prayed  before. 
Stripping  the  myrtle-foliage  from  the  boughs, 
Without  a  tear,  without  a  groan,  —  no  change 


33  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

At  all  to  that  skin's  nature,  fair  to  see, 

Caused  by  the  imminent  evil.     But  this  done,  — 

Reaching  her  chamber,  falling  on  her  bed. 

There,  truly,  burst  she  into  tears  and  spoke : 

'  0  bride-bed  !  where  I  loosened  from  my  life 

Virginity  for  that  same  husband's  sake 

Because  of  whom  I  die  now —  fare  thee  well ! 

Since  nowise  do  I  hate  thee  :  me  alone 

Hast  thou  destroyed  ;  for,  shrinking  to  betray 

Thee  and  my  spouse,  I  die  :  but  thee,  O  bed  ! 

Some  other  woman  shall  possess  as  wife  — 

Truer,  no  !  but  of  better  fortune,  say  ! 

—  So  falls  on,  kisses  it  till  all  the  couch 

Is  moistened  with  the  eye's  sad  overflow. 

But,  when  of  many  tears  she  had  her  fill, 

She  flings  from  off  the  couch,  goes  headlong  forth. 

Yet,  —  forth  the  chambei",  —  still  keeps  turning  back 

And  casts  her  on  the  couch  again  once  more. 

Her  children,  clinging  to  their  mother's  robe,  ;n 

Wept  meanwhile :  but  she  took  them  in  her  arms, 

And,  as  a  dying  woman  might,  embraced 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  39 

Now  one  and  now  the  other :  'neath  the  roof, 
All  of  the  household  sen^ants  wept  as  well, 
Moved  to  compassion  for  their  mistress  ;  she 
Extended  her  right  hand  to  all  and  each, 
And  there  was  no  one  of  such  low  degree 
■      She  spoke  not  to  nor  had  an  answer  from. 
Such  are  the  evils  in  Admetos'  house. 
Dying,  —  why,  he  had  died  ;  but,  living,  gains 
Such  grief  as  this  he  never  will  forget !  " 
And  when  they  questioned  of  Admetos,  "  Well  — 
Holding  his  dear  wife  in  his  hands,  he  weeps  ; 
Entreats  her  not  to  give  him  up,  and  seeks 
The  impossible,  in  fine  :  for  there  she  wastes 
And  withers  by  disease,  abandoned  now, 
A  mere  dead  weight  upon  her  husband's  arm. 
Yet  none  the  less,  although  she  breaths  so  faint, 
Her  will  is  to  behold  the  beams  o'  the  sun : 
Since  never  more  again,  but  this  last  once, 
V  Shall  she  see  sun,  its  circlet  or  its  ray. 

But  I  will  go,  announce  your  presence,  —  friends 
Indeed  ;  since  'tis  not  all  so  love  their  lords 


40  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

As  seek  them  in  misfortune,  kind  tlie  same : 
But  you  are  the  old  friends  I  recognize." 

And  at  the  word  she  turned  again  to  go  : 

The  while  they  waited,  taking  up  the  plaint 

To  Zeus  again  :  "  What  passage  from  this  strait  ? 

What  loosing  of  the  heavy  fortune  fast 

About  the  palace  ?     Will  such  help  appear, 

Or  must  we  clip  the  locks,  and  cast  around 

Each  form  already  the  black  peplos'  fold  ? 

Clearly  the  black  robe,  clearly  !     All  the  same 

Pray  to  the  gods  !  —  like  gods'  no  power  so  great  ! 

O  thou  King  Paian,  find  some  way  to  save  ! 

Reveal  it,  yea,  reveal  it !     Since  of  old 

Thou  found'st  a  cure,  wh}',  now  again  become 

Releaser  from  the  bonds  of  Death,  we  beg, 

And  give  the  sanguinary  Hades  pause  !  " 

So  the  song  dwindled  into  a  mere  moan  ; 

How  dear  the  wife,  and  what  her  husband's  woe  ; 

When  suddenly  — 

"  Behold,  behold  !  "  breaks  forth 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  4 1 

"  Here  is  she  coming  from  tlie  house  indeed ! 
Her  husband  comes,  too  !     Cry  aloud,  lament, 
Pheraian  land,  this  best  of  women,  bound  — 
So  is  she  withered  by  disease  away  — 
For  realms  below  and  their  infernal  king ! 
Never  will  we  affirm  there's  more  of  joy 
Than  grief  in  marriage  ;  making  estimate 
Both  from  old  sorrows  anciently  observed, 
And  this  misfortune  of  the  king  we  see  — 
Admetos  who,  of  bravest  spouse  bereaved, 
Will  live  life's  remnant  out,  no  life  at  all  ! " 

So  wailed  they,  while  a  sad  procession  wound 
Slow  from  the  innermost  o'  the  palace,  stopped 
At  the  extreme  verge  of  the  platform-front : 
There  opened,  and  disclosed  Alkestis'  self. 
The  consecrated  lady,  borne  to  look 
Her  last —  and  let  the  living  look  their  last  — 
She  at  the  sun,  we  at  Alkestis. 

We 
For  would  you  note  a  memorable  thing  ? 


42  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

We  grew  to  see  in  that  severe  regard,  — ■> 

Hear  in  that  hard  dry  pressure  to  the  point, 

Word  slow  pursuing  word  in  monotone,  — 

What  Death  meant  when  he  called  her  consecrate 

Henceforth  to  Hades.     I  believe,  the  sword  — 

Its  office  was  to  cut  the  soul  at  once 

From  life,  —  from  something  in  this  world  which  hides 

Truth,  and  hides  falsehood,  and  so  lets  us  live 

Somehow.     Suppose  a  rider  furls  a  cloak 

About  a  horse's  head;  unfrightened,  so, 

Between  the  menace  of  a  flame,  between 

Solicitation  of  the  pasturage, 

Untempted  equally,  he  goes  his  gait 

To  journey's  end  ;  then  pluck  the  pharos  off  ! 

Show  what  delusions  steadied  him  i'  the  straight 

O'  the  path,  made  grass  seem  fire  and  fire  seem  grass. 

All  through  a  little  bandage  o'er  the  eyes ! 

For  certainly  with  eyes  unbandaged  now 

Alkestis  looked  upon  the  action  here, 

Self-immolation  for  Admetos'  sake ; 

Saw,  with  a  new  sense,  all  her  death  would  'do, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  43 

And  which  of  her  survivors  had  the  right, 
And  which  the  less  right,  to  survive  thereby. 
For,  you  shall  note,  she  uttered  no  one  word 
Of  love  more  to  her  husband,  though  he  wept 
Plenteously,  waxed  importunate  in  prayer — 
Folly's  old  fashion  when  its  seed  bears  fruit. 
I  think  she  judged  that  she  had  bought  the  ware 
O'  the  seller  at  its  value,  —  nor  praised  him, 
Nor  blamed  herself,  but,  with  indifferent  eye, 
Saw  him  purse  money  up,  prepare  to  leave 
The  buyer  with  a  solitary  bale  — 
True  purple  —  but  in  place  of  all  that  coin, 
Had  made  a  hundred  others  happy  too. 
If  so  willed  fate  or  fortune!     What  remained 
To  give  away,  should  rather  go  to  these 
Than  one  with  coin  to  clink  and  contemplate. 
Admetos  had  his  share  and  might  depart, 
The  rest  was  for  her  children  and  herself. 
(Charope  makes  a  face  :  but  wait  a  while  !) 
She  saw  things  plain  as  gods  do  :  by  one  stroke 
O'  the  sword  that  rends  the  life-long  veil  away. 


44  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

(Also  Euripides  saw  plain  enough : 

But  you  and  I,  Charope  ,  —  you  and  I 

Will  trust  his  sight  until  our  own  grow  clear). 

"  Sun,  and  thou  light  of  day,  and  heavenly  dance 

O'  the  fleet  cloud-figure !  "  (so  her  passion  paused, 

While  the  awe-stricken  husband  made  his  moan, 

Muttered  now  this  now  that  inaptitude  : 

"  Sun  that  sees  thee  and  me,  a  suffering  pair, 

Who  did   the   gods   no  wrong  whence   thou    should'st 

die  !  ") 
Then,  as  if,  caught  up,  carried  in  their  course, 
Fleeting  and  free  as  cloud  and  sunbeam  are, 
She  missed  no  happiness  that  lay  beneath  : 
"  O  thou  wide  earth,  from  these  my  palace  roofs, 
To  distant  nuptial  chambers  once  my  own 
In  that  lolkos  of  my  ancestry  !  "  — 
There  the  flight  failed  her.     "  Raise  thee,  wretched  one  ! 
Give  us  not  up  !     Pray  pity  from  the  gods  !  " 

Vainly  Admetos  :  for  "  I  see  it  —  see 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  45 

The  two-oared  boat !     The  feriyer  of  the  dead, 
Charon,  hand  hard  upon  the  boatman's-pole, 
Calls  me  —  even  now  calls  — '  Why  delayest  thou  ? 
Quick  !     Thou  obstructest  all  made  ready  here 
For  prompt  departure  :  quick,  then  ! '  " 

"  Woe  is  me  ! 
A  bitter  voyage  this  to  undergo, 
Even  i'  the  telling  !     Adverse  Powers  above, 
How  do  ye  plague  us !  " 

Then  a  shiver  ran  : 
"  He  has  me  —  seest  not  ?  —  hales  me,  —  who  is  it  ?  — 
To  the  hall  o'  the  Dead  —  ah,  who  but  Hades'  self, 
He,  with  the  wings  there,  glares  at  me,  one  gaze 
All  that  blue  brilliance,  under  the  eyebrow  ! 
What  wilt  thou  do  ?     Unhand  me  !     Such  a  way 
^  1  have  to  traverse,  all  unhappy  one  ! " 

"Way  —  piteous  to  thy  friends,  but,  most  of  all, 

Me  and  thy  children  :  ours  assuredly 

A  common  partnership  in  grief  like  this  ! " 


46  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Whereat  they  closed  about  her  ;  but  "  Let  be  ! 

Leave,  let  me  lie  now !     Strength  forsakes  my  feet. 

Hades  is  here,  and  shadowy  on  my  eyes 

Comes  the  night  creeping.     Children  —  children,  now 

Indeed,  a  mother  is  no  more  for  you ! 

Farewell,  O  children,  long  enjoy  the  light !  " 

"  Ah,  me  !  the  melancholy  word  I  hear. 

Oppressive  beyond  every  kind  of  death ! 

No,  by  the  Deities,  take  heart,  nor  dare 

To  give  me  up  —  no,  by  our  children  too 

Made  orphans  of!     But  rise,  be  resolute  I 

Since,  thou  departed,  I  no  more  remain  I 

For  in  thee  are  we  bound  up,  to  exist 

Or  cease  to  be  —  so  we  adore  thy  love  !  " 

—  Which  brought  out  truth  to  judgment.     At  this  word 
And  protestation,  all  the  truth  in  her 
Claimed  to  assert  itself :  she  wav^ed  away 
The  blue-eyed,  black-wing'd  phantom,  held  in  check 
The  advancing  pageantry  of  Hades  there, 
Vnd,  with  no  change  in  her  own  countenance, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  47 

She  fixed  her  eyes  on  the  protesting  man, 

And  let  her  Hps  unlock  their  sentence,  — so  ! 

"  Admetos, — how  things  go  with  me  thou  seest, — 

I  wish  to  tell  thee,  ere  I  die,  what  things 

I  will  should  follow.     I  —  to  honor  thee, 

Secure  for  thee,  by  my  own  soul's  exchange. 

Continued  looking  on  the  daylight  here  — 

Die  for  thee  —  yet,  if  so  I  pleased,  might  live. 

Nay,  wed  what  man  of  Thessaly  I  would, 

And  dwell  i'  the  dome  with  pomp  and  queenliness. 

I  would  not,  —  would  not  live  bereft  of  thee. 

With  children  orphaned,  neither  shrank  at  all. 

Though  having  gifts  of  youth  wherein  I  joyed. 

Yet,  who  begot  thee  and  who  gave  thee  birth. 

Both  of  these  gave  thee  up  \  for  all,  a  term 

Of  life  was  reached  when  death  became  them  well. 

Ay,  well  —  to  save  their  child  and  glorious  die  : 

Since  thou  wast  all  they  had,  nor  hope  remained 

Of  having  other  children  in  thy  place. 

So,  I  and  thou  had  lived  out  our  full  time. 

Nor  thou,  left  lonely  of  thy  wife,  wouldst  groan 


48  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

With  children  reared  in  orphanage  :  but  thus 

Some  god  disposed  things,  willed  they  so  should  be. 

Be  they  so  !  Now  do  thou  remember  this, 

Do  me  in  turn  a  favor,  —  favor,  since 

Certainly  I  shall  never  claim  my  due, 

For  nothing  is  more  precious  than  a  life  : 

But  a  fit  favor,  as  thyself  wilt  say. 

Loving  our  children  here  no  less  than  I, 

If  head  and  heart  be  sound  in  thee  at  least. 

Uphold  them,  make  them  masters  of  my  house, 

Nor  wed  and  give  a  step-dame  to  the  pair, 

Who,  being  a  worse  wife  than  I,  thro'  spite 

Will  raise  her  hand  against  both  thine  and  mine. 

Never  do  this  at  least,  I  pray  to  thee  ! 

For  hostile  the  new-comer,  the  step-dame, 

To  the  old  brood  —  a  very  viper  she 

For  gentleness  !  Here  stand  they,  boy  and  girl  j 

The  boy  has  got  a  father,  a  defence 

Tower-like  he  speaks  to  and  has  answer  from: 

But  thou,  my  girl,  how  will  thy  virginhood 

Conclude  itself  in  marriage  fittingly  ? 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  49 

Upon  what  sort  of  sire-found  yoke-fellow 
Art  thou  to  chance  ?  with  all  to  apprehend  — 
Lest,  casting  on  thee  some  unkind  report, 
She  blast  thy  nuptials  in  the  bloom  of  youth. 
For  neither  shall  thy  mother  watch  thee  wed. 
Nor  hearten  thee  in  childbirth,  standing  by 
Just  when  a  mother's  presence  helps  thee  most ! 
No,  for  I  have  to  die  :  and  this  my  ill 
Comes  to  me,  nor  to-morrow,  no,  nor  yet 
The  third  day  of  the  month,  but  now,  even  now, 
I  shall  be  reckoned  among  those  no  more. 
Farewell,  be  happy !  And  to  thee,  indeed. 
Husband,  the  boast  remains  permissible 
Thou  hadst  a  wife  was  worthy  !  and  to  you, 
Children,  as  good  a  mother  gave  you  birth." 

"  Have  courage  ! "  interposed  the  friends.     ^'  For  him 
I  have  no  scruple  to  declare,  all  this 
Will  he  perform,  except  he  fail  of  sense." 

"  All  this  shall  be  —  shall  be !  "  Admetos  sobbed  : 
3 


so  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  Fear  not !  And,  since  I  had  thee  living,  dead 

Alone  wilt  thou  be  called  my  wife :  no  fear 

That  some  Thessalian  ever  styles  herself 

Bride,  hails  this  man  for  husband  in  thy  place  ! 

No  woman,  be  she  of  such  lofty  line 

Or  such  surpassing  beauty  otherwise  ! 

Enough  of  children :  gain  from  these  I  have, 

Such  only  may  the  gods  grant !  since  in  thee 

Absolute  is  our  loss,  where  all  was  gain. 

And  I  shall  bear  for  thee  no  year-long  grief, 

But  grief  that  lasts  while  my  own  days  last,  love  ! 

Love  !  For  my  hate  is  she  who  bore  me,  now ; 

And  him  I  hate,  my  father :  loving-ones 

Truly,  in  word  not  deed  !    But  thou  didst  pay 

All  dearest  to  thee  down,  and  buy  my  life. 

Saving  me  so  !    Is  there  not  cause  enough 

That  I  who  part  with  such  companionship 

In  thee,  should  make  my  moan  ?  I  moan,  and  more : 

For  I  will  end  the  feastings  —  social  flow 

O'  the  wine  friends  flock  for,  garlands,  and  the  Muse 

That  graced  my  dwelling.     Never  now  for  me 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  5  I 

To  touch  the  lyre,  to  lift  my  soul  in  song 

At  summons  of  the  Lybian  flute  ;  since  thou 

From  out  my  life  hast  emptied  all  the  joy! 

And  this  thy  body,  in  thy  likeness  wrought 

By  some  wise  hand  of  the  artificers, 

Shall  lie  disposed  within  my  marriage-bed : 

This  I  will  fall  on,  this  enfold  about. 

Call  by  thy  name,  —  my  dear  wife  in  my  arms 

Even  though  I  have  not,  I  shall  seem  to  have  — 

A  cold  delight,  indeed,  but  all  the  same 

So  should  I  lighten  of  its  weight  my  soul ! 

And,  wandering  my  way  in  dreams  perchance. 

Thyself  wilt  bless  me  :  for,  come  when  they  will. 

Even  by' night  our  loves  are  sweet  to  see. 

But  were  the  tongue  and  tune  of  Orpheus  mine, 

So  that  to  Kore  crying,  or  her  lord. 

In  hymns,  from  Hades  I  might  rescue  thee, 

Down  would  I  go,  and  neither  Plouton's  dog 

Nor  Charon,  he  whose  oar  sends  souls  across. 

Should  stay  me  till  again  I  made  thee  stand 

Living,  within  the  light !     But,  fiiiling  this. 


52  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

There,  where  thou  art,  await  me  when  I  die, 

Make  ready  our  abode,  my  house-mate  still  1 

For  in  the  self-same  cedar,  me  with  thee. 

Will  I  provide  that  these  our  friends  shall  place. 

My  side  lay  close  by  thy  side  !     Never,  corpse 

Although  I  be,  would  I  division  bear 

From  thee,  my  faithful  one  of  all  the  world  !  " 

So  he  stood  sobbing  :  nowise  insincere, 

But  somehow  child-like,  like  his  children,  like 

Childishness  the  world  over.     What  was  new 

In  this  announcement  that  his  wife  must  die  ? 

What  particle  of  pain  beyond  the  pact 

He  made,  with  eyes  wide  open,  long  ago,  — 

Made,  and  was,  if  not  glad,  content  to  make  ? 

Now  that  the  sorrow,  he  had  called  for,  came, 

He  sorrowed  to  the  height  :  none  heard  him  say. 

However,  what  would  seem  so  pertinent, 

"  To  keep  this  pact,  I  find  surpass  my  power  : 

Rescind  it,  Moirai !     Give  me  back  her  life, 

And  take  the  life  I  kept  by  base  exchange  ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  53 

Or,  failing  that,  here  stands  your  laughing-stock 

Fooled  by  you,  worthy  just  the  fate  o'  the  fool 

Who  makes  a  pother  to  escape  the  best 

And  gain  the  worst  you  wiser  Powers  allot !  " 

No,  not  one  word  of  this  :  nor  did  his  wife, 

Despite  the  sobbing,  and  the  silence  soon 

To  follow,  judge  so  much  was  in  his  thought,  — 

Fancy  that,  should  Moirai  acquiesce, 

He  would  relinquish  life,  nor  let  her  die. 

The  man  was  like  some  merchant  who,  in  storm, 

Throws  the  freight  over  to  redeem  the  ship  : 

No  question,  saving  both  were  better  still. 

As  it  was,  —  why,  he  sorrowed,  which  sufficed. 

So,  all  she  seemed  to  notice  in  his  speech 

Was  what  concerned  her  children.     Children,  too, 

Bear  the  grief  and  accept  the  sacrifice. 

Rightly  rules  Nature  :  does  the  blossomed  bough 

O'  the  grape-vine,  or  the  dry  grape's  self,  bleed  wine  ? 

So,  bending  to  her  children  all  her  love, 
She  fastened  on  their  father's  only  word 


54  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

To  purpose  now,  and  followed  it  with  this : 

"  O  children  !  now  yourselves  have  heard  these  things,  ■ 

Your  father  saying  he  will  never  wed 

Another  woman  to  be  over  you, 

Nor  yet  dishonor  me  !  " 

"  And  now  at  least 
I  say  it,  and  I  will  accomplish  too  !  " 

"  Then,  for  such  promise  of  accomplishment. 
Take  from  my  hand  these  children  !  " 

"  Thus  I  take  — 
Dear  gift  from  the  dear  hand  !  " 

"  Do  thou  become 
Mother,  now,  to  these  children  in  my  place  ! " 

'  Great  the  necessity  I  should  be  so, 
At  least,  to  these  bereaved  of  thee  !  " 

"Child  — child! 


STATE  NORiViAL  oon 

Loi?  Af;eeles.  Cal. 
BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  55 


Just  when  I  needed  most  to  live,  below 
Am  I  departing  from  you  both  !  " 

"  Ah  me ! 
And  what  shall  I  do,  then,  left  lonely  thus  ? " 

"  Time  will  appease  thee :  who  is  dead  is  nought." 

"  Take  me  with  thee  —  take,  by  the  gods  below  !  " 

"  We  are  sufficient,  we  who  die  for  thee." 

"  0  Powers  !  ye  widow  me  of  what  a  wife  !  " 

"  And  truly  the  dimmed  eye  draws  earthward  now  !  " 

"  Wife,  if  thou  leav'st  me,  I  am  lost  indeed  !  " 

"She  once  was  —  now  is  nothing,  thou  may'st  say." 

"  Raise  thy  face,  nor  forsake  thy  children  thus  !  " 


i;u; 


$6  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  Ah,  willingly  indeed  I  leave  them  not ! 
But  —  fare  ye  well,  my  children  1 " 

"  Look  on  them  — • 
Look  !  " 

"  I  am  nothingness." 

"  What  dost  thou  !     Leav'st " 
"  Farewell  1  " 

And  in  the  breath  she  passed  away. 
"  Undone  —  me  miserable  !  "  moaned  the  king, 
While  friends  released  the  long-suspended  sigh. 
"  Gone  is  she  :  no  wife  for  Admetos  more  !  " 

Such  was  the  signal :  how  the  woe  broke  forth, 
Why  tell  ?  —  or  how  the  children's  tears  ran  fast, 
Bidding  their  father  note  the  eyelids'  stare, 
Hands'  droop,  each  dreadful  circumstance  of  death. 

"  Ay,  she  hears  not,  she  sees  not :  I  and  you, 


BALAUSTIOM'S  ADVENTURE.  57 

'Tis  plain,  are  stricken  hard,  and  have  to  bear  !  " 

Was  all  Admetos  answered  •  for,  I  judge, 

He  only  now  began  to  taste  the  truth  : 

The  thing  done  lay  revealed,  which  undone  thing. 

Rehearsed  for  fact  by  fancy,  at  the  best, 

Never  can  equal.     He  had  used  himself 

This  long  while  (as  he  muttered  presently) 

To  practise  with  the  terras,  the  blow  involved 

By  the  bargain,  sharp  to  bear,  but  bearable 

Because  of  plain  advantage  at  the  end. 

Now  that,  in  fact  not  fancy,  the  blow  fell  — 

Needs  must  he  busy  him  with  the  surprise. 

"  Alkestis  —  not  to  see  her  nor  be  seen, 

Hear  nor  be  heard  of  by  her,  any  more, 

To-day,  to-morrow,  to  the  end  of  time,  — 

Did  I  mean  this  should  buy  my  life } "  thought  he. 

So,  friends  came  round  him,  took  him' by  the  hand. 
Bade  him  remember  our  mortality, 
Its  due,  its  doom  :  how  neither  was  he  first. 
Nor  would  be  last,  to  thus  deplore  the  loved. 
3* 


58  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  I  understand,"  slow  the  words  came  at  last. 

"  Nor  of  a  sudden  did  the  evil  here 

Fly  on  me  :  I  have  known  it  long  ago, 

Ay,  and  essayed  mj'self  in  misery ; 

Nothing  is  new.     You  have  to  stay,  you  friends, 

Because  the  next  need  is  to  carry  forth 

The  corpse  here  :  you  must  stay  and  do  your  part. 

Chant  proper  paean  to  the  god  below ; 

Drink-sacrifice  he  likes  not.     I  decree 

That  all  Thessalians  over  whom  I  rule 

Hold  grief  in  common  with  me  ;  let  them  shear 

Their  locks,  and  be  the  peplos  black  they  show ! 

And  you  to  the  chariot  yoke  your  steeds. 

Or  manage  steeds  one-frondeted,  —  I  charge, 

Clip  from  each  neck  with  steel  the  mane  away  ! 

And  through  my  city,  nor  of  flute  nor  lyre 

Be  there  a  sound  till  twelve  full  moons  succeed. 

For  I  shall  never  bury  any  corpse 

Dearer  than  this  to  me,  nor  better  friend  : 

One  worthy  of  all  honor  from  me,  since 

Me  she  has  died  for,  she  and  she  alone." 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  59 

With  that,  he  sought  the  uimost  of  the  house, 

He  and  his  dead,  to  get  grave's  garniture, 

While  the  friends  sang  the  pxan  that  should  peal. 

"Daughter  of  Pelias,  with  farewell  from  me, 

r  the  house  of  Hades  have  thy  unsunned  home  ! 

Let  Plades  know,  the  dark-haired  deity,  — 

And  he  who  sits  to  row  and  steer  alike. 

Old  corpse-conductor,  let  him  know  he  bears 

Over  the  Acherontian  lake- this  time, 

r  the  two-oared  boat,  the  best,  —  oh,  best  by  far 

Of  womankind  !     For  thee,  Alkestis  Queen, 

Many  a  time  those  haunters  of  the  Muse 

Shall  sing  thee  to  the  seven-stringed  mountain-shell, 

And  glorify  in  hymns  that  need  no  harp, 

At  Sparta  when  the  cycle  comes  about. 

And  that  Karneian  month  wherein  the  moon 

Rises  and  never  sets  the  whole  night  through  : 

So  too  at  splendid  and  magnificent 

Athenai.     Such  the  spread  of  thy  renown, 

And  such  the  lay  that,  dying,  thou  hast  left 

Singer  and  sayer.     Oh  that  I  availed 


6o  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Of  my  own  might  to  send  thee  once  again 
From  Hades'  hall,  Kokutos'  stream,  by  help 
O'  the  oar  that  dips  the  river,  back  to-day !  " 

So,  the  song  sank  to  prattle  in  her  praise  : 

"  Light,  from  above  thee,  lady,  fall  the  earth, 

Thou  only  one  of  womankind  to  die. 

Wife  for  her  husband  !     If  Admetos  take 

Any  thing  to  him  like  a  second  spouse,  — 

Hate  from  his  offspring  and  from  us  shall  be 

His  portion,  let  the  king  assure  himself! 

No  mind  his  mother  had  to  hide  in  earth 

Her  body  for  her  son's  sake,  nor  his  sire 

Had  heart  to  save  whom  he  begot,  —  not  they, 

The  white-haired  wretches  !  only  thou  it  was, 

r  the  bloom  of  youth,  didst  save  him  and  so  die ! 

Might  it  be  mine  to  chance  on  such  a  mate 

And  partner!     For  there's  penury  in  life 

Of  such  allowance :  were  she  mine  at  least. 

So  wonderful  a  wife,  assuredly 

She  would  companion  me  throughout  my  days 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  6l 

And  never  once  bring  sorrow  ! " 

A  great  voice  — 
"  My  hosts  here  !  " 

Oh,  the  thrill  that  ran  through  us ! 
Never  was  aught  so  good  and  opportune 
As  that  great  interrupting  voice  !     For  see  ! 
Here  maundered  this  dispirited  old  age 
Before  the  palace  ;  whence  a  something  crept 
Which  told  us  well  enough  without  a  word 
What  was  a-doing  inside,  —  every  touch 
O'  the  garland  on  those  temples,  tenderest 
Disposure  of  each  arm  along  its  side, 
Came  putting  out  what  warmth  i'  the  world  was  left. 
Then,  as  it  happens  at  a  sacrifice 
When,  drop  by  drop,  some  lustral  bath  is  brimmed  : 
Into  the  thin  and  clear  and  cold,  at  once 
They  slaughter  a  whole  wine-skin  ;  Bacchos'  blood 
Sets  the  white  water  all  a-flame  :  even  so, 
Sudden  into  the  midst  of  sorrow,  leapt 


62  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Along  with  the  gay  cheer  of  that  great  voice, 
Hope,  joy,  salvation  :  Herakles  was  here  ! 
Himself  o'  the  threshold,  sent  his  voice  on  first 
To  herald  all  that  human  and  divine 
r  the  weary  happy  face  of  him,  —  half  god, 
Half  man,  which  made  the  god-part  god  the  more. 

"  Hosts  mine,"  he  broke  upon  the  sorrow  with, 
"  Inhabitants  of  this  Pheraian  soil, 
Chance  I  upon  Admetos  inside  here  ? " 

The  irresistible  sound  wholesome  heart 

O'  the  hero,  —  more  than  all  the  mightiness 

At  labor  in  the  limbs  that,  for  man's  sake, 

Labored  and  meant  to  labor  their  life  long,  — 

This  drove  back,  dried  up  sorrow  at  its  source. 

How  could  it  brave  the  happy  weary  laugh 

Of  who  had  bantered  sorrow,  "  Sorrow  here  ? 

What  have  you  done  to  keep  your  friend  from  harm  ? 

Could  no  one  give  the  life  I  see  he  keeps .'' 

Or,  say  there's  sorrow  here  past  friendly  help, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  63 

Why  waste  a  word  or  let  a  tear  escape 

While  other  sorrows  wait  you  in  the  world, 

And  want  the  life  of  you,  though  helpless  here  ? " 

Clearly  there  was  no  telling  such  an  one 

How,  when  their  monarch  tried  who  loved  him  more 

Than  he  loved  them,  and  found  they  loved,  as  he, 

Each  man,  himself,  and  held,  no  otherwise. 

That,  of  all  evils  in  the  world,  the  worst 

Was  —  being  forced  to  die,  whate'er  death  gain  : 

How  all  this  selfishness  in  him  and  them 

Caused  certain  sorrow  which  they  sang  about,  — 

I  think  that  Herakles,  who  held  his  life 

Out  on  his  hand,  for  any  man  to  take  — 

I  think  his  laugh  had  marred  their  threnody. 

"  He  is.i'  the  house,"  they  ansvy^ered.     After  all. 

They  might  have  told  the  story,  talked  their  best 

About  the  inevitable  sorrow  here, 

Nor  changed  nor  checked  the  kindly  nature,  —  no  ! 

So  long  as  men  were  merely  weak,  not  bad, 

He  loved  men  :  were  they  gods  he  used  to  help  ? 


64  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  Yea,  Pheres'  son  is  in-doors,  Herakles  : 
But  say,  what  sends  thee  to  Thessalian  soil, 
Brought  by  what  business  to  this  Pherai  town  ?  " 

"  A  certain  labor  that  I  have  to  do 
Eurustheus  the  Tirunthian,"  laughed  the  god. 

"And  whither  wendest  —  on  what  wandering 

Bound  now  ?  "  (they  had  an  instinct,  guessed  what  meant 

Wanderings,  labors,  in  the  god's  light  mouth.) 

"  After  the  Thracian  Diomedes'  car 
With  the  four  horses." 

"  Ah  !  but  canst  thou  that? 

Art  inexperienced  in  thy  host  to  be  ?  " 

"  All-inexperienced  :  I  have  never  gone 
As  yet  to  the  land  o'  the  Bistones." 

"  Then  look 
By  no  means  to  be  master  of  the  steeds 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  65 

Without  a  battle  ! " 

"  Battle  there  may  be  : 
I  must  refuse  no  labor,  all  the  same." 

"  Certainly,  either  having  slain  a  foe 
Wilt  thou  return  to  us,  or,  slain  thyself, 
Stay  there  !  " 

"  And,  even  if  the  game  be  so^ 
The  risk  in  it  were  not  the  first  I  run." 

"  But,  say  thou  overpower  the  lord  o'  the  place, 
What  more  advantage  dost  expect  thereby?" 

"  I  shall  drive  off  his  horses  to  the  king." 

"  No  easy  handling  them  to  bit  the  jaw  ! " 

"  Easy  enough ;  except,  at  least,  they  breathe 
Fire  from  their  nostrils  !  " 

"  But  they  mince  up  men 
With  those  quick  jaws  !  " 


66  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  You  talk  of  provender 
For  mountain-beasts,  and  not  mere  horses'  food  !  " 

"  Thou  may'st  behold  their  mangers  caked  with  gore  !  " 

"  And  of  what  sire  does  he  who  bred  them  boast 
Himself  the  son  ? " 

"  Of  Ares,  king  o'  the  targe  — 
Thracian,  of  gold  throughout." 

Another  laugh. 
"  Why,  just  the  labor,  just  the  lot  for  me. 
Dost  thou  describe  in  what  I  recognize  ! 
Since  hard  and  harder,  high  and  higher  yet, 
Truly  this  lot  of  mine  is  like  to  go 
If  I  must  needs  join  batde  with  the  brood 
Of  Ares  :  ay,  I  fought  Lukaon  first. 
And  again,  Kuknos :  now  engage  in  strife 
This  third  time,  with  such  horses  and  such  lord. 
But  there  is  nobody  shall  ever  see 
Alkmenc's  son  shrink,  foemen's  hand  before  !  " 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  67 

—  "  Or  ever  hear  him  say"  {the  chorus  thought) 

"  That  deatli  is  terrible  ;  and  help  us  so 

To  chime  in  — '  terrible  beyond  a  doubt, 

And,  if  to  thee,  why,  to  ourselves  much  more  : 

Know  what  has  happened,  then,  and  sympathize  ! '  " 

Therefore  they  gladly  stopped  the  dialogue, 

Shifted  the  burthen  to  new  shoulder  straight. 

As,  "  Look  where  comes  the  lord  o'  the  land,  himself, 

Admetos,  from  the  palace  !  "  they  out-broke 

In  some  surprise,  as  well  as  much  relief. 

What  had  induced  the  king  to  waive  his  right 

And  luxury  of  woe  in  loneliness  ? 

Out  he  came  quietly;  the  hair  was  dipt. 

And  the  garb  sable  ;  else  no  outward  sign 

Of  sorrow  as  he  came  and  faced  his  friend. 

Was  truth  fast  terrifying  tears  away  ? 

*'  Hail,  child  of  Zeus,  and  sprung  from  Perseus  too  !  " 

The  salutation  ran  without  a  fault. 

"  And  thou,  Admetos,  King  of  Thessaly  !  " 


68  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  Would,  as  thou  wishest  me,  the  grace  might  fall ! 
But  my  good-wisher,  that  thou  art,  I  know." 

"What's   here?    these  shorn  locks,  this    sad  show   of 
thee  ? " 

"  I  must  inter  a  certain  corpse  to-day." 

"  Now,  from  thy  children  God  avert  mischance  1 " 

"  They  live,  my  children  ;  all  are  in  the  house  1 " 

"  Thy  father  —  if  'tis  he  departs  indeed, 
His  age  was  ripe  at  least." 

"  My  father  lives, 
And  she  who  bore  me  lives  too,  Herakles." 

"  It  cannot  be  thy  wife  Alkestis  gone  ?  " 

"  Two-fold  the  talc  is,  I  can  tell  of  her." 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  69 

"  Dead  dost  thou  speak  of  her,  or  living  yet  ?  " 

"  She  is  —  and  is  not :  hence  the  pain  to  me  !  " 

"  I  learn  no  whit  the  more,  so  darlc  thy  speech  !  " 

"  Know'st  thou  not  on  what  fate  she  needs  must  fall  ? " 

"  I  know  she  is  resigned  to  die  for  thee." 

"  How  lives  she  still,  then,  if  submitting  so  ? " 

"  Eh,  weep  her  not  beforehand  !  wait  till  then  !  " 

"  Who  is  to  die  is  dead  ;  doing  is  done." 

"  To  be  and  not  to  be  are  thought  diverse." 

"  Thou  judgest  this  —  I,  that  way,  Herakles  !  " 

"  Well,  but  declare  what  causes  thy  complaint ! 


70  BALAUSTIOM'S    ADVENTURE. 

Who  is  the  man  has  died  from  out  thy  friends  ? " 

"  No  man  :  I  had  a  woman  in  my  mind." 

"  Alien,  or  some  one  born  akin  to  thee  ? " 

"  Alien  :  but  still  related  to  my  house." 

"  How  did  it  happen  then  that  here  she  died .?  " 

"  Her  father  dying  left  his  orphan  here." 

"Alas,  Admetos  —  would  we  found  thee  gay, 
Not  grieving !  " 

"  What  as  if  about  to  do 
Subjoinest  thou  that  comment  t  " 

"  I  shall  seek 
Another  hearth,  proceed  to  other  hosts." 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  7 1 

"  Never,  O  king,  shall  that  be  !  No  such  ill 
Betide  me !  " 

"  Nay,  to  mourners,  should  there  come 
A  guest,  he  proves  importunate  !  " 

"  The  dead  — 
Dead  are  they :  but  go  thou  within  my  house  !  " 

"  'T  is  base  carousing  beside  friends  who  mourn." 

"  The  guest-rooms,  whither  we  shall  lead  thee,  lie 
Apart  from  ours." 

"  Nay,  let  me  go  my  way  ! 
Ten  thousandfold  the  favor  I  shall  thank ! " 

"  It  may  not  be  thou  goest  to  the  hearth 

Of  any  man  but  me  !  "  so  made  an  end 

Admetos,  softly  and  decisively, 

Of  the  altercation.     Herakles  forbore  : 

And  the  king  bade  a  servant  lead  the  way, 

Open  the  guest-rooms  ranged  remote  from  view 


72  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

O'  the  main  hall,  tell  the  functionaries,  too, 
They  had  to  furnish  forth  a  plenteous  feast : 
And  then  shut  close  the  doors  o'  the  hall,  midway, 
"  Because  it  is  not  proper  friends  who  feast 
Should  hear  a  groaning  or  be  grieved,"  quoth  he. 

Whereat  the  hero,  who  was  truth  itself, 

Let  out  the  smile  again,  repressed  a  while 

Like  fountain  brilliance  one  forbids  to  play. 

He  did  too  many  grandnesses,  to  note 

Much  in  the  meaner  things  about  his  path  : 

And  stepping  there,  with  face  towards  the  sun, 

Stopped  seldom  to  pluck  weeds  or  ask  their  names. 

Therefore  he  took  Admetos  at  the  word  : 

This  trouble  must  not  hinder  any  more 

A  true  heart  from  good  will  and  pleasant  ways. 

And  so,  the  great  arm,  which  had  slain  the  snake, 

Strained  his  friend's  head  a  moment  in  embrace 

On  that  broad  breast  beneath  the  lion's  hide. 

Till  the  king's  cheek  winced  at  the  thick  rough  gold  ; 

And  then  strode  off,  with  who  had  care  of  him, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  73 

To  the  remote  guest-chamber  :  glad  to  give 
Poor  flesh  and  blood  their  respite  and  relief 
In  the  interval  'twixt  fight  and  fight  again  — 
All  for  the  world's  sake.     Our  eyes  followed  him, 
Be  sure,  till  those  mid-doors  shut  us  outside. 
The  king,  too,  watched  great  Herakles  go  off 
All  faith,  love,  and  obedience  to  a  friend. 

And  when  they  questioned  him,  the  simple  ones, 
"  What  dost  thou  ?     Such  calamity  to  face. 
Lies  full  before  thee  —  and  thou  art  so  bold 
As  play  the  host,  Admetos  ?     Hast  thy  wits  .-* " 
He  replied  calmly  to  each  chiding  tongue  : 
"  But  if  from  house  and  home  I  forced  away 
A  coming  guest,  would'st  thou  have  praised  me  more  ? 
No,  truly  !  since  calamity  were  mine, 
Nowise  diminished  ;  while  I  showed  myself 
Unhappy  and  inhospitable  too  : 
So  adding  to  my  ills  this  other  ill, 
That  mine  were  styled  a  stranger-hating  house. 
Myself  have  ever  found  this  man  the  best 
4 


74  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE, 

Of  entertainers  when  I  went  his  way 
To  parched  and  thirsty  Argos." 

"  If  so  be  — 
Why  didst  thou  hide  what  destiny  was  here, 
When  one  came  that  was  kindly,  as  thou  say'st  ?  " 

"  He  never  would  have  willed  to  cross  my  door, 

Had  he  known  aught  of  my  calamities. 

And  probably  to  some  of  you  I  seem 

Unwise  enough  in  doing  what  I  do  ; 

Such  will  scarce  praise  me  :  but  these  halls  of  mine 

Know  not  to  drive  off  and  dishonor  guests." 

And  so,  the  duty  done,  he  turned  once  more 

To  go  and  busy  him  about  his  dead. 

As  for  the  sympathizers  left  to  muse, 

There  was  a  change,  a  new  light  thrown  on  things, 

Contagion  from  the  magnanimity 

O'  the  man  whose  life  lay  on  his  hand  so  light, 

As  up  he  stepped,  pursuing  duty  still, 

"  Higher  and  harder,"  as  he  laughed  and  said. 

Somehow  they  found  no  folly  now  in  the  act 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  75 

They  blamed  erewhile  :  Admetos'  private  grief 

Slirank  to  a  somewhat  pettier  obstacle 

r  the  way  o'  the  world  :  they  saw  good  days  had  been, 

And  good  days,  peradventure,  still  might  be  ; 

Now  that  they  overlooked  the  present  cloud 

Heavy  upon  the  palace  opposite. 

And  soon  the  thought  took  words  and  music  thus  :  — 

"  Harbor  of  many  a  stranger,  free  to  friend, 
Ever  and  always,  O  thou  house  o'  the  man 
We  mourn  for !     Thee,  ApoUon's  very  self, 
The  lyric  Puthian,  deigned  inhabit  once. 
Become  a  shepherd  here  in  thy  domains. 
And  pipe,  adown  the  winding  hill-side  paths. 
Pastoral  marriage-poems  to  thy  flocks 
At  feed :  while  with  them  fed  in  fellowship. 
Through  joy  i'  the  music,  spot-skin  lynxes  ;  ay. 
And  lions  too,  the  bloody  company. 
Came,  leaving  Othrus'  dell ;  and  round  thy  lyre, 
Phoibos,  there  danced  the  speckle-coated  fawn, 
Pacing  on  lightsome  fetlock  past  the  pines 


76  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Tress-topped,  the  creature's  natural  boundary, 
Into  the  open  everywhere  ;  such  heart 
Had  she  within  her,  beating  joyous  beats, 
At  the  sweet  re-assurance  of  thy  song ! 
Therefore  the  lot  o'  the  master  is  to  live 
In  a  home  multitudinous  with  herds. 
Along  by  the  fair-flowing  Boibian  lake. 
Limited,  that  ploughed  land  and  pasture-plain. 
Only  where  stand  the  sun's  steeds,  stabled  west 
r  the  cloud,  by  that  mid-air  which  makes  the  clime 
Of  those  Molossoi :  and  he  rules  as  well 
O'er  the  Aigaian,  up  to  Pelion's  shore, — 
Sea-stretch  without  a  port !    Such  lord  have  we  : 
And  here  he  opens  house  now,  as  of  old. 
Takes  to  the  heart  of  it  a  guest  again  : 
Though  moist  the  eyelid  of  the  master,  still 
Mourning  his  dear  wife's  body,  dead  but  now ! " 

And  they  admired  :  nobility  of  soul 
Was  self-impelled  to  reverence,  they  saw ; 
The  best  men  ever  prove  the  wisest  too ; 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  77 

Something  instinctive  guides  them  still  aright. 
And  on  each  soul  this  boldness  settled  now, 
That  one,  who  reverenced  the  gods  so  much, 
Would  prosper  yet :  (or  —  I  could  wish  it  ran  — 
Who  venerates  the  gods  i'  the  main,  will  still 
Practise  things  honest  though  obscure  to  judge.) 

They  ended,  for  Admetos  entered  now ; 

Having  disposed  all  duteously  indoors, 

He  came  into  the  outside  world  again, 

Quiet  as  ever :  but  a  quietude 

Bent  on  pursuing  its  descent  to  truth. 

As  who  must  grope  until  he  gain  the  ground 

O'  the  dungeon  doomed  to  be  his  dwelling  now. 

Already  high  o'erhead  was  piled  the  dusk, 

When  something  pushed  to  stay  his  downward  step, 

Pluck  back  despair  just  reaching  its  repose. 

He  would  have  bidden  the  kind  presence  there 

Observe  that,  — since  the  corpse  was  coming  out, 

Cared  for  in  all  things  that  befit  the  case. 

Carried  aloft,  in  decency  and  state, 


78'  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

To  the  last  burial  place  and  burning  pile,  — 
'Twere  proper  friends  addressed,  as  custom  prompts, 
Alkestis  bound  on  her  last  journeying. 

"  Ay,  for  we  see  thy  father,"  they  subjoined, 

"Advancing  as  the  aged  foot  best  may  ; 

His  servants,  too  :  each  bringing  in  his  hand 

Adornments  for  thy  wife,  all  pomp  that's  due 

To  the  downward-dwelling  people."     And  in  truth, 

By  slow  procession  till  they  filled  the  stage. 

Came  Pheres,  and  his  following,  and  their  gifts. 

You  see,  the  worst  of  the  interruption  was. 

It  plucked  back,  with  an  over-hasty  hand, 

Admetos  from  descending  to  the  truth, 

(I  told  you)  —  put  him  on  the  brink  again. 

Full  i'  the  noise  and  glare  where  late  he  stood  : 

With  no  Hite  fallen  and  irrecoverable, 

But  all  things  subject  still  to  chance  and  change  : 

And  that  chance,  —  life,  and  that  change,  —  happiness. 

And  with  the  low  strife  came  the  little  mind  : 

He  was  once  more  the  man  might  gain  so  much, 


STATE  m\m 

BALA  USTION  'S  AD  VENTURE.       l»  A^f  9 

Life  too  and  wife  too,  would  his  friends  but  help  ! 

All  he  felt  now  was,  that  there  faced  him  one 

Supposed  the  likeliest,  in  emergency. 

To  help  :  and  help,  by  mere  self-sacrifice 

So  natural,  it  seemed  as  if  the  sire 

Must  needs  lie  open  still  to  argument, 

Withdraw  the  rash  decision,  not  to  die, 

But  rather  live,  though  death  would  save  his  son :  — 

Argument  like  the  ignominious  grasp 

O'  the  drowner  whom  his  fellow  grasps  as  fierce, 

Each  marvelling  that  the  other  needs  must  hold 

Head  out  of  water,  though  friend  choke  thereby. 

And  first  the  father's  salutation  fell. 
Burthened,  he  came,  in  common  with  his  child, 
Who  lost,  none  would  gainsay,  a  good  chaste  spouse : 
Yet  such  things  must  be  borne,  though  hard  to  bear. 
"  So,  take  this  tribute  of  adornment,  deep 
In  the  earth  let  it  descend  along  with  her  ! 
Behooves  we  treat  the  body  with  respect 
—  Of  one  who  died,  at  least,  to  save  thy  life, 


8o  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Kept  me  from  being-childless,  nor  allowed 

That  I,  bereft  of  thee,  should  peak  and  pine 

In  melancholy  age  ;  she,  for  the  sex, 

All  of  her  sisters,  put  in  evidence, 

By  daring  such  a  feat,  that  female  life 

Might  prove  more  excellent  than  men  suppose. 

O  thou  Alkestis !  "  out  he  burst  in  fine, 

"  Who,  while  thou  savedst  this  my  son,  didst  raise 

Also  myself  from  sinking,  —  hail  to  thee  ! 

Well  be  it  with  thee  even  in  the  house 

Of  Hades  !  I  maintain,  if  mortals  must 

Marry,  this  sort  of  marriage  is  the  sole 

Permitted  those  among  them  who  are  wise  !  " 

So  his  oration  ended.     Like  hates  like : 
Accordingly  Admetos,  —  full  i'  the  face 
Of  Pheres,  his  true  father,  outward  shape 
And  inward  foshion,  body  matching  soul, — 
Saw  just  himself  when  years  should  do  their  work 
And  re-enforce  the  selfishness  inside 
Until  it  pushed  the  last  disguise  away  : 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  » 

As  when  the  liquid  metal  cools  i'  the  mould, 
Stands  forth  a  statue :  Bloodless,  hard,  cold  bronze. 
So,  in  old  Pheres,  young  Admetos  showed. 
Pushed  to  completion  :  and  a  shudder  ran, 
And  his  repugnance  soon  had  vent  in  speech: 
Glad  to  escape  outside,  nor,  pent  within. 
Find  itself  there  fit  food  for  exercise. 
"Neither  to  this  interment  called  by  me 
Comest  thou,  nor  thy  presence  I  account 
Among  the  covetable  proofs  of  love. 
As  for  thy  tribute  of  adornment,  —  no  ! 
Ne'er  shall  she  don  it,  ne'er  in  debt  to  thee 
Be  buried  1    What  is  thine,  that  keep  thou  still ! 
Then  it  behoved  thee  to  commiserate 
When  I  was  perishing :  but  thou,  who  stood'st 
Foot-free  o'  the  snare,  wast  acquiescent  then 
That  I,  the  young,  should  die,  not  thou,  the  old, — 
Wilt  thou  lament  this  corpse  thyself  hast  slain  ? 
Thou  wast  not,  then,  true  father  to  this  flesh  ; 
Nor  she,  who  makes  profession  of  my  birth, 
And  styles  herself  my  mother,  neither  she 
4* 


82  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Bore  me :  but,  come  of  slave's  blood,   I  was  cast 

Stealthily  'neath  the  bosom  of  thy  wife ! 

Thou  showedst,  put  to  touch,  the  thing  thou  art, 

Nor  I  esteem  myself  born  child  of  thee ! 

Otherwise,  thine  is  the  pre-eminence 

O'er  all  the  world  in  cowardice  of  soul  : 

Who,  being  the  old  man  thou  art,  arrived 

Where  life  should  end,  didst  neither  will  nor  dare 

Die  for  thy  son,  but  left  the  task  to  her, 

The  alien  woman,  whom  I  well  might  think 

Own,  only  mother  both  and  father  too  ! 

And  yet  a  fair  strife  had  been  thine  to  strive, 

—  Dying  for  thine  own  child ;  and  brief  for  thee 

In  any  case,  the  rest  of  time  to  live  ; 

While  I  had  lived,  and  she,  our  rest  of  time, 

Nor  I  been  left  to  groan  in  solitude. 

Yet  certainly  all  things  which  happy  man 

Ought  to  experience,  thy  experience  grasped. 

Thou  wast  a  ruler  through  the  bloom  of  youth. 

And  I  was  son  to  thee,  recipient  due 

Of  sceptre  and  demesne,  —  no  need  to  fear 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  83 

That  dying  thou  should'st  have  an  orphan  house 

For  strangers  to  despoil.     Nor  yet  wilt  thou 

Allege  that  as  dishonoring,  forsooth, 

Thy  length  of  days,  I  gave  thee  up  to  die,  — 

I,  who  have  held  thee  in  such  reverence ! 

And  in  exchange  for  it,  such  gratitude 

Thou,  father,  —  thou  aw^ard'st  me,  mother  mine  ! 

Go,  lose  no  time,  then,  in  begetting  sons 

Shall  cherish  thee  in  age,  and,  when  thou  diest, 

Deck  up  and  lay  thee  out,  as  corpses  claim  1 

For  never  I,  at  least,  with  this  my  hand 

Will  bury  thee  :  it  is  myself  am  dead 

So  far  as  lies  in  thee.     But  if  I  light 

Upon  another  saviour,  and  still  see 

The  sunbeam,  —  his,  the  child  I  call  myself, 

His,  the  old  age  that  claims  my  cherishing. 

How  vainly  do  these  aged  pray  for  death. 

Abuse  the  slow  drag  of  senility  ! 

But  should  death  step  up,  nobody  inclines 

To  die,  nor  age  is  now  the  weight  it  was !  " 

You  see  what  all  this  poor  pretentious  talk 


84  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Tried  at,  — how  weakness  strove  to  hide  itself 

In  bluster  against  weakness,  —  the  loud  word 

To  hide  the  little  whisper,  not  so  low 

Already  in  that  heart  beneath  those  lips ! 

Ha !  could  it  be,  who  hated  cowardice 

Stood  confessed  craven,  and  who  lauded  so 

Self-immolating  lOve,  himself  had  pushed 

The  loved  one  to  the  altar  in  his  place  ? 

Friends  interposed,  would  fain  stop  further  play 

O'  the  sharp-edged  tongue :  they   felt  love's  champion 

here 
Had  left  an  undefended  point  or  two, 
The  antagonist  might  profit  by  ;  bade  "  Pause  ! 
Enough  the  present  sorrow  !     Nor,  O  son. 
Whet  thus  against  thyself  thy  father's  soul  !  " 

Ay,  but  old  Pheres  was  the  stouter  stuff! 
Admetos,  at  the  flintiest  of  the  heart, 
Had  so  much  soft  in  him  as  held  a  fire : 
The  other  was  all  iron,  clashed  from  flint 
Its  fire,  but  shed  no  spark  and  showed  no  bruise. 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  bj 

Did  Pheres  crave  instruction  as  to  facts  ? 

He  came,  content,  the  ignoble  word,  for  liim, 

Should  lurk  still  in  the  blackness  of  each  breast. 

As  sleeps  the  water-serpent  half-surmised  : 

Not  brought  up  to  the  surface  at  a  bound, 

By  one  touch  of  the  idly-probing  spear, 

Reed-like  against  the  unconquerable  scale. 

He  came  pacific,  rather,  as  strength  should, 

Bringing  the  decent  praise,  the  due  regret, 

And  each  banality  prescribed  of  old. 

Did  he  commence,  "  Why  let  her  die  for  you  ?  " 

And  rouse  the  coiled  and  quiet  ugliness, 

"  What  is  so  good  to  man  as  man's  own  life  ?  " 

No  :  but  the  other  did  :  and,  for  his  pains. 

Out,  full  in  face  of  him,  the  venom  leapt. 

"  And  whom  dost  thou  make  bold,  son  —  Ludian  slave. 
Or  Phrugian  whether,  money  made  thy  ware, 
To  drive  at  with  revilings  ?     Know'st  thou  not 
I,  a  Thessalian,  from  Thessalian  sire 
Spring,  and  am  born  legitimately  free  ? 


86  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Too  arrogant  art  thou ;  and,  youngster-words 
Casting  against  me,  having  had  thy  fling, 
Thou  goest  not  off  as  all  were  ended  so ! 
I  gave  thee  birth  indeed  and  mastership 
I'  the  mansion,  brought  thee  up  to  boot :  there  ends 
My  owing,  nor  extends  to  die  for  thee  ! 
Never  did  I  receive  it  as  a  law 
'  Hereditary,  no,  nor  Greek  at  all, 
That  sires  in  place  of  sons  were  bound  to  die. 
For,  to  thy  sole  and  single  self  wast  thou 
Born,  with  whatever  fortune,  good  or  bad  ; 
Such  things  as  bear  bestowment,  those  thou  hast ; 
Already  ruling  widely,  broad-lands,  too. 
Doubt  not  but  I  shall  leave  thee  in  due  time : 
For  why  ?     My  father  left  me  them  before. 
Well  then,  where  wrong  I  thee  ?  —  of  what  defraud  ? 
Neither  do  thou  die  for  this  man,  myself. 
Nor  let  him  die  for  thee  !  —  is  all  I  beg. 
Thou  joyest  seeing  daylight :  dost  suppose 
Thy  father  joys  not  too  ?     Undoubtedly, 
Long  I  account  the  time  to  pass  below, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

And  brief  my  span  of  days  ;  yet  sweet  the  same  : 
Is  it  otherwise  to  thee  who,  impudent, 
Didst  fight  off  this  same  death,  and  livest  now 
Through  having  sneaked  past  fate  apportioned  thee, 
And  slain  thy  wife  so  ?     Cryest  cowardice 
On  me,  I  wonder,  thou  —  the  poor  poltroon 
A  very  woman  worsted,  daring  death 
Just  for  the  sake  of  thee,  her  handsome  spark? 
Shrewdly  hast  thou  contrived  how  not  to  die 
For  evermore  now  :  'tis  but  still  persuade 
The  wife  for  the  time  being  —  take  thy  place  ! 
What,  and  thy  friends  who  would  not  do  the  like 
.  These  dost  thou  carp  at,  craven  thus  thyself  ? 
Crouch  and  be  silent,  craven  !     Comprehend 
That,  if  thou  lovest  so  that  life  of  thine, 
Why  everybody  loves  his  own  life  too  : 
So,  good  words  henceforth !     If  thou  speak  us  ill. 
Many  and  true  an  ill  thing  shalt  thou  hear  !  " 

There  you  saw  leap  the  hydra  at  full  length  ! 
Only,  the  old  kept  glorying  the  more, 


88  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

The  more  the  portent  thus  uncoiled  itself, 
Whereas  the  young  man  shuddered  head  to  foot, 
And  shrank  from  kinship  with  the  creature.     Why 
Such  horror,  unless  what  he  hated  most, 
Vaunting  itself  outside,  might  fairly  claim 
Acquaintance  with  the  counterpart  at  home  : 
I  would  the  Chorus  here  had  plucked  up  heart. 
Spoken  out  boldly,  and  explained  the  man. 
If  not  to  men,  to  gods.     That  way,  I  think, 
Sophokles  would  have  led  their  dance  and  song. 
Here  they  said  simply  "  Too  much  evil  spoke 
On  both  sides  !  "     As  the  young  before,  so  now 
They  bade  the  old  man  leave  abusing  thus. 

"  Let  him  speak,  —  I  have  spoken  !  "  said  the  youth  ; 
And  so  died  out  the  wrangle  by  degrees. 
In  wretched  bickering.     "  If  thou  wince  at  fact. 
Behooved  thee  not  prove  faulty  to  myself !  " 

"  Had  I  died  for  thee  I  had  faulted  more  !  " 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  89 

"  All's  one,  then,  for  youth's  bloom  and  age  to  die? " 

"  Our  duty  is  to  live  one  life,  not  two  !  " 

"  Go  then,  and  outlive  Zeus,  for  aught  I  care  !  " 

"  What,  curse  thy  parents  with  no  sort  of  cause  ?  " 

"  Curse,  truly  1  All  thou  lovest  is  long  life  !  " 

"  And  dost  not  thou,  too,  all  for  love  of  life, 
Carry  out  now,  in  place  of  thine,  this  corpse  ?  " 

"  Monument,  rather,  of  thy  cowardice. 
Thou  worst  one  !  " 

"  Not  for  me  she  died,  I  hope ! 
That  thou  wilt  hardly  say !  " 

"  No,  simply  this  : 
Would  some  day  thou  may'st  come  to  need  myself!  " 

"  Meanwhile,  woo  many  wives  —  the  more  will  die  !  " 


90  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  And  so  shame  thee  who  never  dared  the  like  !  " 

"  Dear  is  this  light  o'  the  son-god  —  dear,  I  say  !  " 

"  Proper  conclusion  for  a  beast  to  draw  !  " 

"  One  thing  is  certain :  there's  no  laughing  now, 
As  out  thou  bearest  the  poor  dead  old  man ! " 

"  Die  when  thou  wilt,  thou  wilt  die  infamous  !  " 

"  And  once  dead,  whether  famed  or  infamous, 
T  shall  not  care  !  " 

"  Alas  and  yet  again  ! 
How  full  is  age  of  impudency  !  " 

"  True  ! 
Thou  could'st  not  call  thy  young  wife  impudent : 
She  was  found  foolish  merely." 

"  Get  thee  gone  ! 
And  let  me  burj'  this  my  dead  I  " 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  9^ 

"I  go. 
Thou  buriest  her  whom  thou  didst  murder  first ; 
Whereof  there's  some  account  to  render  yet 
Those  kinsfolk  by  the  marriage-side  !     I  think 
Brother  Akastos  may  be  classed,  with  me, 
Among  the  beasts,  not  men,  if  he  omit 
Avenging  upon  thee  his  sister's  blood  I  " 

"  Go  to  perdition,  with  thy  housemate  too, 
Grow  old  all  childlessly,  with  child  alive, 
Just  as  ye  merit !  for  to  me,  at  least, 
Beneath  the  same  roof  ne'er  do  ye  return. 
And  did  I  need  by  heralds'  help  renounce 
The  ancestral  hearth,  I  had  renounced  the  same  ! 
But  we  —  since  this  woe,  lying  at  our  feet 
I'  the  path,  is  to  be  borne  —  let  us  proceed, 
And  lay  the  body  on  the  pyre." 

I  think. 
What,  thro'  this  wretched  wrangle,  kept  the  man 
From  seeing  clear  —  beside  the  cause  I  gave  — 
Was  that  the  woe,  himself  described  as  full 


92  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

V  the  path  before  him,  there  did  really  lie  — 

Not  roll  into  the  abyss  of  dead  and  gone. 

How,  with  Alkestis  present,  calmly  crowned, 

Was  she  so  irrecoverable  yet  ? 

The  bird,  escaped,  that's  just  on  bough  above, 

The  flower,  let  flutter  half-way  down  the  brink  ! 

Not  so  detached  seemed  lifelessness  from  life, 

But  —  one  dear  stretch  beyond  all  straining  yet  — 

And  he  might  have  had  her  at  his  heart  once  more. 

But,  in  the  critical  minute,  up  there  comes 

The  father  and  the  fact,  to  trifle  time ! 

"  To  the  pyre  !  "  an  instinct  prompted  :  pallid  face, 

And  passive  arm,  and  pointed  foot,  O  friends ! 

When  these  no  longer  shall  absorb  the  sight, 

Admetos  will  begin  to  see  indeed 

Who  the  true  foe  was,  where  the  blows  should  fall ! 

So,  the  old  selfish  Pheres  went  his  way. 
Case-hardened  as  he  came ;  and  left  the  youth 
(Only  half-selfish  now,  since  sensitive) 
To  go  on  learning  by  a  light  the  more, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  93 

As  friends  moved  off,  renewing  dirge  the  while  : 

"  Unhappy  in  thy  daring  !     Noble  dame, 

Best  of  the  good,  farewell  !     With  favoring  face 

May  Hermes  the  infernal,  Hades  too, 

Receive   thee  !     And  if  there,  ay,  there,  —  some  toucli 

Of  further  dignity  await  the  good, 

Sharing  with  them,  may'st  thou  sit  throned  by  her 

The  Bride  of  Hades,  in  companionship  !  " 

Wherewith,  the  sad  procession  wound  away. 

Made  slowly  for  the  suburb  sepulchre. 

And  lo,  —  while  still  one's  heart,  in  time  and  tune, 

Paced  after  that  symmetric  step  of  Death 

Mute-marching,  to  the  mind's  eye,  at  the  head 

O'  the  mourners  —  one  hand  pointing  out  their  path 

With  the  long  pale  terrific  sword  we  saw. 

The  other  leading,  with  grim  tender  grace, 

Alkestis  quieted  and  consecrate,  — 

Lo,  life  again  knocked  laughing  at  the  door ! 

The  world  goes  on,  goes  ever,  in  and  through. 


94  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

And  out  again  o'  the  cloud.     We  faced  about, 

Fronted  the  palace  where  the  mid-hall-door 

Opened  —  not  half,  nor  half  of  half,  perhaps  — 

Yet  wide  enough  to  let  out  light  and  life. 

And  warmth,  and  bounty,  and  hope,  and  joy,  at  once. 

Festivity  burst  wide,  fruit  rare  and  ripe 

Crushed  in  the  mouth  of  Bacchos,  pulpy-prime. 

All  juice  and  flavor,  save  one  single  seed 

Duly  ejected  from  the  god's  nice  lip, 

Which  lay  o'  the  red  edge,  blackly  visible  — 

To  wit,  a  certain  ancient  servitor : 

On  whom  the  festal  jaws  o'  the  palace  shut, 

So,  there  he  stood,  a  much-bewildered  man. 

Stupid  ?     Nay,  but  sagacious  in  a  sort : 

Learned,  life-long,  i'  the  first  outside  of  things. 

Though  bat  for  blindness  to  what  lies  beneath, 

And  needs  a  nail-scratch  ere  'tis  laid  you  bare. 

This  functionary  was  the  trusted  one 

We  saw  deputed  by  x'Vdmetos  late 

To  lead  in  Herakles  and  help  him,  soul 

And  body,  to  such  snatched  repose,  snappcd-up 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  95 

Sustainment,  as  might  do  away  the  dust 

O'  the  last  encounter,  knit  each  nerve  anew 

For  that  next  onset  sure  to  come  at  cry 

O'  the  creature  next  assailed,  —  nay,  should  it  prove 

Only  the  creature  that  came  forward  now 

To  play  the  critic  upon  Herakles  ! 

"  Many  the  guests  " —  so  he  soliloquized 

In  musings  burdensome  to  breast  before, 

When  it  seemed  not  too  prudent,  tongue  should  wag  — ■ 

"  Many,  and  from  all  quarters  of  this  world. 

The  guests  I  now  have  known  frequent  our  house, 

For  whom  I  spread  the  banquet ;  but  than  this, 

Never  a  worse  one  did  I  yet  receive 

At  the  hearth  here  !     One  who  seeing,  first  of  all 

The  master's  sorrow,  entered  gate  the  same, 

And  had  the  hardihood  to  house  himself. 

Did  things  stop  there  ?     But,  modest  by  no  means, 

He  took  what  entertainment  lay  to  hand, 

Knowing  of  our  misfortune,  —  did  we  fail 

In  aught  of  the  fit  service,  urged  us  serve 


96  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Just  as  a  guest  expects  !     And  in  his  hands 

Taking  the  ivied  goblet,  drinks  and  drinks 

The  unmixed  product  of  black  mother-earth, 

Until  the  blaze  o'  the  wine  went  round  about 

And  warmed  him  :  then  he  crowns  with  myrtle  sprigs 

His  head,  and  howls  discordance  —  two-fold  lay 

Was  thereupon  for  us  to  listen  to  — 

This  fellow  singing,  namely,  nor  restrained 

A  jot  by  sympathy  with  sorrows  here  — 

While  we   o'   the   household   mourned   our   mistress 

mourned. 
That  is  to  say,  in  silence  —  never  showed 
The  eyes,  which  we  kept  wetting,  to  the  guest  — 
For  there  Admetos  was  imperative. 
And  so,  here  am  I  helping  make  at  home 
A  guest,  some  fellow  ripe  for  wickedness. 
Robber  or  pirate,  while  she  goes  her  way 
Out  of  her  house  :  and  neither  was  it  mine 
To  follow  in  procession,  nor  stretch  forth 
Hand,  wave  my  lady  dear  a  last  farewell, 
Lamentina:  who  to  me  and  all  of  us 


BALAUSTIOiV'S  ADVENTURE.  97 

Domestics  was  a  mother  :  myriad  harms 
She  used  to  ward  away  from  ever)'  one, 
And  molUfy  her  husband's  ireful  mood. 
I  ask  then,  do  I  justly  hate  or  no 
This  guest,  this  interloper  on  our  grief?  " 

"  Hate  him  and  justly !  "     Here's  the  proper  judge 

Of  what  is  due  to  the  house  from  Herakles ! 

This  man  of  much  experience  saw  the  first 

O'  the  feeble  duckings-down  at  destin}'. 

When  King  Admetos  went  his  rounds,  poor  soul, 

A-begging  somebody  to  be  so  brave 

As  die  for  one  afraid  to  die  himself — 

'  Thou,  friend  ?     Thou,  love  ?     Father  or  mother,  then  ! 

None  of  you  ?     What,  Alkestis  must  Death  catch  ? 

O  best  of  wives,  one  woman  in  the  world  ! 

But  nowise  droop  :  our  prayers  may  still  assist : 

Let  us  try  sacrifice  ;  if  those  avail 

Nothing,  and  gods  avert  their  countenance. 

Why,  deep  and  durable  the  grief  will  be  !  " 

Whereat  the  house,  this  worthy  at  its  head, 
5 


98  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Re-echoed  "deep  and  durable  our  grief!  " 
This  sage,  who  justly  hated  Herakles, 
Did  he  suggest  once  "  Rather  I  than  she  !  " 
Admonish  the  Turannos  —  "  Be  a  man  ! 
Bear  thine  own  burden,  never  think  to  thrust 
Thy  fate  upon  another,  and  thy  wife  ! 
It  were  a  dubious  gain  could  death  be  doomed 
That  other,  yet  no  passionatest  plea 
Of  thine,  to  die  instead,  have  force  with  fate  ; 
Seeing  thou  lov'st  Alkestis  :  what  were  life 
Unlighted  by  the  loved  one  ?     But  to  live  — 
Not  merely  live  unsolaced  by  some  thought, 
Some  word  so  poor  —  yet  solace  all  the  same  -^- 
As  '  Thou  i'  the  sepulchre,  Alkestis,  say  ! 
Would  I,  or  would  not  I,  to  save  thy  life, 
Die,  and  die  on,  and  die  forever  more  ? ' 
No !  but  to  read  red-written  up  and  down 
The  world,  '  This  is  the  sunshine,  this  the  shade, 
This  is  some  pleasure  of  earth,  sky,  or  sea. 
Due  to  that  other  dead,  that  thou  may'st  live  ! ' 
Such  were  a  covetable  gain  to  thee  ? 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  99 

Go  die,  fool,  and  be  happy  while  'tis  time  ! " 
One  word  of  counsel  in  this  kind,  mclhinks, 
Had  fallen  to  better  purpose  than  Ai,  Ai, 
Pheu,  pheu,  e,  papai,  and  a  pother  of  praise 
O'  the  best,  best,  best  one  !     Nothing  was  to  hate 
In  king  Admetos,  Pheres,  and  the  rest 
O'  the  household  down  to  his  heroic  self! 
This  was  the  one  thing  hateful  :  Herakles 
Had  flung  into  the  presence,  frank  and  free, 
Out  from  the  labor  into  the  repose, 
Ere  out  again  and  over  head  and  ears 
I'  the  heart  of  labor,  all  for  love  of  men  : 
Making  the  most  o'  the  minute,  that  the  soul 
And  body,  strained  to  height  a  minute  since, 
Might  lie  relaxed  in  joy,  this  breathing-space. 
For  man's  sake  more  than  ever ;  till  the  bow, 
Restrung  o'  the  sudden,  at  first  cry  for  help. 
Should  send  some  unimaginable  shaft 
True  to  the  aim  and  shatteringly  through 
The  plate-mail  of  a  monster,  save  man  so. 
He  slew  the  pest  o'  the  marish  yesterday : 


lOO  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

To-morrow  he  would  bit  the  flame-breathed  stud 

That  fed  on  man's-flesh :  and  this  day  between  — 

Because  he  held  it  natural  to  die, 

And  fruitless  to  lament  a  thing  past  cure, 

So,  took  his  fill  of  food,  wine,  song,  and  flowers, 

Till  the  new  labor  claimed  him  soon  enough, — 

"  Hate  him  and  justly  !  " 

True,  Charope  mine  ! 
The  man  surmised  not  Herakles  lay  hid 
r  the  guest ;  or  knowing  it,  was  ignorant 
That  still  his  lady  lived,  for  Herakles  ; 
Or  else  judged  lightness  needs  must  indicate 
This  or  the  other  caitiff  quality  ; 
And  therefore  —  had  been  right  if  not  so  wrong  ! 
For  who  expects  the  sort  of  him  will  scratch 
A  nail's  depth,  scrape  the  surface  just  to  see 
What  peradventure  underlies  the  same  ? 

So,  he  stood  petting  up  his  puny  hate. 
Parent-wise,  proud  of  the  ill-favored  babe. 
Not  long  !     A  great  hand,  careful  lest  it  crush, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  lOI 

Startled  hixn  on  the  shoulder :  up  he  stared  ; 

And  over  him  who  stood  but  Herakles  ? 

There  smiled  the  mighty  presence,  all  one  smile, 

And  no  touch  more  of  the  world-weary  god, 

Through  the  brief  respite  !     Just  a  garland's  grace 

About  the  brow,  a  song  to  satisfy 

Head,  heart,  and  breast,  and  trumpet-lips  at  once, 

A  solemn  draught  of  true  religious  wine, 

And  —  how  should  I  know?  —  half  a  mountain  goat 

Torn  up  and  swallowed  down,  —  the  feast  was  fierce 

But  brief:  all  cares  and  pains  took  wing  and  flew. 

Leaving  the  hero  ready  to  begin 

And  help  mankind,  whatever  woe  came  next, 

Even  though  what  came  next  should  be  nought  more 

Than  the  mean  querulous  mouth  o'  the  man,  remarked 

Pursing  its  grievance  up  till  patience  failed, 

And  the  sage  needs  must  rush  out,  as  we  saw, 

To  sulk  outside  and  pet  his  hate  in  peace. 

By  no  means  would  the  Helper  have  it  so  : 

He  who  was  just  about  to  handle  brutes 

In  Thrace,  and  bit  the  jaws  which  breathed  the  flame,  — 


I02  balaustiOlW's  adventure. 

Well,  if  a  good  laugh  and  a  jovial  word 
Could  bridle  age  which  blew  bad  humors  forth, 
That  were  a  kind  of  help  too  ! 

"  Thou,  there  !  "  hailed 
This  grand  benevolence  the  ungracious  one  — 
"  Why  look'st  so  solemn  and  so  thought-absorbed  ? 
To  guests,  a  servant  should  not  sour-faced  be. 
But  do  the  honors  with  a  mind  urbane. 
While  thou,  contrariwise,  beholding  here 
Arrive  thy  master's  comrade,  hast  for  him 
A  churlish  visage,  all  one  beetle-brow  — 
Having  regard  to  grief  that's  out-of-door  ! 
Come  hither,  and  so  get  to  grow  more  wise  ! 
Things  mortal  —  know'st  the  nature  that  they  have  ? 
No,  I  imagine !  whence  could  knowledge  spring  ? 
Give  ear  to  me,  then  !     For  all  flesh  to  die. 
Is  Nature's  clue  ;  nor  is  there  any  one 
Of  mortals  with  assurance  he  shall  last 
The  coming  morrow :  for,  what's  born  of  chance 
Invisibly  proceeds  the  way  it  will. 
Not  to  be  learned,  no  fortune-teller's  prize. 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  103 

This,  therefore,  having  heard  and  known  through  me, 

Gladden  thyself !     Drink!     Count  the  day-by-day 

Existence  thine,  and  all  the  other  —  chance  ! 

Ay,  and  pay  homage  also  to,  by  far 

The  sweetest  divinities  for  man, 

Kupris  !     Benignant  goddess  will  she  prove  ! 

But  as  for  aught  else,  leave  and  let  things  be ! 

And  trust  my  counsel,  if  I  seem  to  speak 

To  purpose  —  as  I  do  apparently. 

Wilt  not  thou,  then,  —  discarding  over  much 

Mournfulness,  do  away  with  this  shut  door, 

Come  drink  along  with  me,  be-garlanded 

This  fashion  ?     Do  so,  —  and,  —  I  well  know  what,  — 

From  this  stern  mood,  this  shrunk-up  state  of  mind, 

The  pit-pat  fall  o'  the  flagon-juice  down  throat. 

Soon  will  dislodge  thee  from  bad  harborage ! 

Men  being  mortal,  should  think  mortal-like  : 

Since  to  your  solemn,  brow-contracting  sort, 

All  of  them,  —  so  I  lay  down  law  at  least,  — 

Life  is  not  truly  life  but  misery." 


I04  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Whereto  the  man  with  softened  sudiness  : 

"  We  know  as  much  :  but  deal  with  matters,  now, 

Hardly  befitting  mirth  and  revelry." 

"  No  intimate,  this  woman  that  is  dead  : 

Mourn  not  too  much  !     For,  those  o'  the  house  itself, 

Thy  masters  live,  remember !  " 

"  Live  indeed  ? 
Ah,   thou    know'st   nought    o'    the   woe    within    these 
walls  1 " 

"  I  do  —  unless  thy  master  spoke  me  false 
Somehow ! " 

"  Ay,  ay,  too  much  he  loves  a  guest, 
Too  much,  that  master  mine !  "  so  muttered  he. 

"  Was  it  improper  he  should  treat  me  well, 
Because  an  alien  corpse  was  in  the  way  ? " 

"  No  alien,  but  most  intimate  indeed  !  " 


state; 

Lo8  Angeles. 

BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  1 05 

"  Can  it  be,  some  woe  was,  he  told  me  not  ? " 

"  Farewell  and  go  thy  way !     Thy  cares  for  thee  — 
To  us,  our  master's  sorrow  is  a  care." 

"  This  word  begins  no  tale  of  alien  woe  !  " 

"  Had  it  been  other  woe  than  intimate, 

I  could  have  seen  thee  feast,  nor  felt  amiss." 

"  What !  have  I  suffered  strangely  from  my  host  ? " 

"  Thou  cam'st  not  at  a  fit  reception-time  : 
With  sorrow  here  beforehand ;  and  thou  seest 
Shorn  hair,  black  robes." 

"  But  who  is  it  that's  dead  ? 
Some  child  gone  ?  or  the  aged  sire  perhaps  ?  " 

"  Admetos'  wife,  then  !  she  has  perished,  guest  1 " 

"  How  sayest  ?     And  did  ye  house  me  all  the  same?  " 

5* 


io6  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  Ay  :  for  he  had  thee  in  that  reverence 

He  dared  not  turn  thee  from  his  door  away ! " 

"  O  hapless,  and  bereft  of  what  a  mate  !  " 
"  All  of  us  now  are  dead,  not  she  alone  !  " 

"  But  I  divined  it !  seeing,  as  I  did, 

His  eye  that  ran  with  tears,  his  close-clipt  hair. 

His  countenance  !     Though  he  persuaded  me, 

Saying  it  was  a  stranger's  funeral 

He  went  with  to  the  grave :  against  my  wish. 

He  forced  on  me  that  I  should  enter  doors, 

Drink  in  the  hall  o'  the  hospitable  man 

Circumstanced  so  !     And  do  I  revel  yet 

"With  wreath  on  head  ?    But — -thou  to  hold  thy  peace, 

Nor  tell  me  what  a  woe  oppressed  my  friend  ! 

Where  is  he  gone  to  bury  her  ?     Where  am  I 

To  go  and  find  her  ?  " 

"  By  the  road  that  leads 

Straight  to  Larissa,  thou  wilt  see  the  tomb. 

Out  of  the  suburb,  a  carved  sepulchre." 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  107 

So  said  he,  and  therewith  dismissed  himself 

Inside  to  his  lamenting :  somewhat  soothed, 

However,  that  he  had  adroitly  dashed 

The  mirth  of  the  great  creature:  oh,  he  marked 

The  movement  of  the  mouth,  how  lip  pressed  lip. 

And  either  eye  forgot  to  shine,  as,  fast, 

He  plucked  the  chaplet  from  his  forehead,  dashed 

The  myrtle-sprays  down,  trod  them  underfoot ! 

And  all  the  joy  and  wonder  of  the  wine 

Withered  away,  like  fire  from  off  a  brand 

The  wind  blows  over  —  beacon  though  it  be, 

Whose  merry  ardor  only  meant  to  make 

Somebody  all  the  better  for  its  blaze. 

And  save  lost  people  in  the  dark :  quenched  now ! 

Not  long  quenched  !     As  the  flame,  just  hurried  off 
The  brand's  edge,  suddenly  renews  its  bite. 
Tasting  some  richness  caked  i'  the  core  o'  the  tree, — 
Pine,  with  a  blood  that's  oil,  —  and  triumphs  up 
Pillar-wise  to  the  sky  and  saves  the  world  : 
So,  in  a  spasm  and  splendor  of  resolve. 


xo8  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

All  at  once  did  the  god  surmount  the  man. 

"  O  much-enduring  heart  and  hand  of  mine  ! 

Now  show  what  sort  of  son  she  bore  to  Zeus, 

That  daughter  of  Elektruon,  Tirun's  child. 

Alkmene !  for  that  son  must  needs  save  now 

The  just-dead  lady  :  ay,  establish  here 

I'  the  house  again  Alkestis,  bring  about 

Comfort  and  succor  to  Admetos  so  ! 

I  will  go  lie  in  wait  for  Death,  black-stoled 

King  of  the  corpses  !     I  shall  find  him,  sure, 

Drinking  beside  the  tomb,  o'  the  sacrifice : 

And  if  I  lie  in  ambuscade,  and  leap 

Out  of  my  lair,  and  seize  —  encircle  him 

Till  one  hand  join  the  other  round  about  — 

There  lives  not  who  shall  pull  him  out  from  me, 

Rib-mauled,  before  he  let  the  woman  go ! 

But  even  say  I  miss  the  booty,  —  say, 

Death  comes  not  to  the  boltered  blood,  —  why  then, 

Down  go  I,  to  the  unsunned  dwelling-place 

Of  Kore  and  the  king  there,  —  make  demand, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  109 

Confident  I  shall  bring  Alkestis  back, 

So  as  to  put  her  in  the  hands  of  him 

My  host,  that  housed  me,  never  drove  me  off: 

Though  stricken  with  sore  sorrow,  hid  the  stroke. 

Being  a  noble  heart  and  honoring  me  ! 

Who  of  Thessalians,  more  than  this  man,  loves 

The  stranger  ?     Who,  that  now  inhabits  Greece  ? 

Wherefore  he  shall  not  say  the  man  was  vile 

Whom  he  befriended,  —  native  noble  heart !  " 

So,  one  look  upward,  as  if  Zeus  might  laugh 

Approved  of  his  human  progeny,  — 

One  summons  of  the  whole  magnific  frame, 

Each  sinew  to  its  service, — u^p  he  caught. 

And  over  shoulder  cast,  the  lion-shag. 

Let  the  club  go,  —  for  had  he  not  those  hands  ? 

And  so  went  striding  off,  on  that  straight  way 

Leads  to  Larissa  and  the  suburb  tomb. 

Gladness  be  with  thee.  Helper  of  our  world  ! 

I  think  this  is  the  authentic  sign  and  seal 

Of  godship,  that  it  ever  waxes  glad, 


no  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

And  more  glad,  until  gladness  blossoms,  bursts 

Into  a  rage  to  suffer  for  mankind. 

And  recommence  at  sorrow :  drops  like  seed 

After  the  blossom,  ultimate  of  all. 

Say,  does  the  seed  scorn  earth,  and  seek  the  sun  ? 

Surely  it  has  no  other  end  and  aim 

Than  to  drop,  once  more  to  die  into  the  ground, 

Taste  cold  and  darkness  and  oblivion  there : 

And  thence  rise,  tree-like  grow  through  pain  to  joy, 

More  joy  and  most  joy,  —  do  man  good  again. 

So,  off  strode  to  the  struggle  Herakles. 

When  silence  close  bphind  the  lion-garb, 

Back  came  our  dull  fact  settling  in  its  place, 

Though  heartiness  and  passion  half-dispersed 

The  invitable  fate.     And  presently 

In  came  the  mourners  from  the  funeral, 

One  after  one,  until  we  hoped  the  last 

Would  be  Alkestis  and  so  end  our  dream. 

Could  they  have  really  left  Alkestis  lone 

r  the  wayside  sepulchre  !     Home,  all  save  she  ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  m 

And  when  Admetos  felt  that  it  was, 

By  the  stand-still :  when  he  lifted  head  and  face 

From  the  two  hiding  hands  and  peplos'  fold, 

And  looked  forth,  knew  the  palace,  knew  the  hills. 

Knew  the  plains,  knew  the  friendly  frequence  there. 

And  no  Alkestis  any  more  again. 

Why  the  whole  woe  billow-like  broke  on  him. 

"  O  hateful  entry,  hateful  countenance 

O'  the  widowed  halls  !  "  —  he  moaned.    "  What  was  to  be  ? 

Go  there .?    Stay  here  ?    Speak,  not  speak  ?    All  was  now 

Mad  and  impossible  alike  ;  one  way 

And  only  one  was  sane  and  safe  —  to  die  : 

Now  he  was  made  aware  how  dear  is  death, 

How  lovable  the  dead  are,  how  the  heart 

Yearns  in  us  to  go  hide  where  they  repose. 

When  we  find  sunbeams  do  no  good  to  see. 

Nor  earth  rests  rightly  where  our  footsteps  fall. 

His  wife  had  been  to  him  the  very  pledge. 

Sun  should  be  sun,  earth  —  earth  ;  the  pledge  was  robbed, 

Pact  broken,  and  the  world  was  left  no  world." 


112  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

He  stared  at  the  impossible,  mad  life : 

Stood,  while  they  bade  "  Advance  —  advance !    Go  deep 

Into  the  utter  dark,  thy  palace-core  !  " 

They  tried  what  they  called  comfort,  "  touched  the  quick 

Of  the  ulceration  in  his  soul,"  he  said, 

With  memories,  — "  once  thy  joy  was  thus  and  thus  !  " 

True  comfort  were  to  let  him  fling  himself 

Into  the  hollow  grave  o'  the  tomb,  and  so 

Let  him  lie  dead  along  with  all  he  loved. 

One  bade  him  note  that  his  own  family 
Boasted  a  certain  father  whose  sole  son, 
Worthy  bewail ment,  died  :  and  yet  the  sire 
Bore  stoutly  up  against  the  blow  and  lived  ; 
For  all  that  he  was  childless  now,  and  prone 
Already  to  gray  hairs,  far  on  in  life. 
Could  such  a  good  example  miss  effect  ? 
Why  fix  foot,  stand  so,  staring  at  the  house  .-* 
Why  not  go  in,  as  that  wise  kinsman  would  } 

"  O  that  arran<rement  of  the  house  I  know ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  113 

How  can  I  enter,  how  inhabit  thee, 

Now  that  one  cast  of  fortune  changes  all  ? 

Oh,  me  !  for  much  divides  the  then  from  now  ! 

Then  —  with  those  pine-tree  torches,  Pelian  pomp 

And  marriage-hymns,  I  entered,  holding  high 

The  hand  of  my  dear  wife  ;  while  many-voiced 

The  revelry  that  followed  me  and  her 

That's  dead  now,  —  friends  felicitating  both, 

As  who  were  lofty-lineaged,  each  of  us 

Born  of  the  best,  two  wedded  and  made  one  ; 

Now  —  wail  is  wedding-chant's  antagonist, 

And,  for  white  peplos,  stoles  in  sable  state 

Herald  my  way  to  the  deserted  couch  1 " 

The  one  word  more  they  ventured  was,  "  This  grief 
Befell  thee  witless  of  what  sorrow  means, 
Close  after  prosperous  fortune  :  but,  reflect  1 
Thou  hast  saved  soul  and  body.     Dead,  thy  wife  — 
Living,  the  love  she  left.     What's  novel  here  ? 
Many  the  man,  from  whom  Death  long  ago 
Loosed  the  life-partner !  " 


114  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Then  Admetos  spoke 
Turned  on  the  comfort,  with  no  tears,  this  time. 
He  was  beginning  to  be  Hke  his  wife. 
I  told  you  of  that  pressure  to  the  point, 
Word  slow  pursuing  word  in  monotone, 
Alkestis  spoke  with  ;  so  Admetos,  now, 
Solemnly  bore  the  burden  of  the  truth. 
And  as  the  voice  of  him  grew,  gathered  strength, 
And  groaned  on,  and  persisted  to  the  end, 
We  felt  how  deep  had  been  descent  in  grief. 
And  with  what  change  he  came  up  now  to  light, 
And  left  behind  such  littleness  as  tears. 
"  Friends,  I  account  the  fortune  of  my  wife 
Happier  than  mine,  though  it  seem  otherwise  : 
For,  her  indeed  no  grief  will  ever  touch. 
And  she  from  many  a  labor  pauses  now. 
Renowned  one  !     Whereas  I,  who  ought  not  live, 
But  do  live,  by  evading  destiny. 
Sad  life  am  I  to  lead,  I  learn  at  last  ! 
For  how  shall  I  bear  going  in-doors  here  ? 
Accosting  whom  ?     By  whom  saluted  back, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  115 

Shall  I  have  joyous  entry?     Whither  turn  ? 
Inside,  the  solitude  will  drive  me  forth, 
When  I  behold  the  empty  bed  —  my  wife's  — 
The  seat  she  used  to  sit  upon,  the  floor 
Unsprinkled  as  when  dwellers  loved  the  cool, 
The  children  that  will  clasp  my  knees  about, 
Cry  for  their  mother  back  :  these  servants  too 
Moaning  for  what  a  guardian  they  have  lost  1 
Inside  my  house  such  circumstance  awaits. 
Outside,  —  Thessalian  people's  marriage-feasts 
And  gatherings  for  talk  will  harass  me, 
With  overflow  of  women  everywhere ; 
It  is  impossible  I  look  on  them  — 
Familiars  of  my  wife  and  just  her  age  ! 
And  then,  whoever  is  a  foe  of  mine, 
And  lights  on  me  —  why,  this  will  be  his  word  — 
'  See  there  !  alive  ignobly,  there  he  skulks 
That  played  the  dastard  when  it  came  to  die, 
And,  giving  her  he  wedded,  in  exchange. 
Kept  himself  out  of  Hades  safe  and  sound, 
The  coward  !     Do  you  call  that  creature  —  man  ? 


Il6  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

He  hates  his  parents  for  declining  death, 

Just  as  if  he  himself  would  gladly  die  ! ' 

This  sort  of  reputation  shall  I  have, 

Beside  the  other  ills  enough  in  store. 

Ill-famed,  ill-faring,  —  what  advantage,  friends, 

Do  you  perceive  I  gain  by  life  for  death  ?  " 

That  was  the  truth.     Vexed  waters  sank  to  smooth ; 

'T  was  only  when  the  last  of  bubbles  broke, 

The  latest  circlet  widened  all  away, 

And  left  a  placid  level,  that  up  swam 

To  the  surface  the  drowned  truth,  in  dreadful  change. 

So,  through  the  quiet  and  submission,  —  ay, 

Spite  of  some  strong  words  —  (for  you  miss  the  tone) 

The  grief  was  getting  to  be  infinite  — 

Grief,  friends  fell  back  before.     Their  office  shrank 

To  that  old  solace  of  humanity  — 

"  Being  born  mortal,  bear  grief !     Why  born  else  .''  " 

And  they  could  only  meditate  anew. 

"  They,  too,  upborne  by  airy  help  of  song. 
And  haply  science,  which  can  find  the  stars. 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  li? 

Had  searched  the  heights :  had  sounded  depths  as  well 

By  catching  much  at  books  where  logic  lurked, 

Yet  nowhere  found  they  aught  could  overcome 

Necessity  :  not  any  medicine  served, 

AVhich  Thracian  tablets  treasure,  Orphic  voice 

Wrote  itself  down  upon  :  nor  remedy 

"Which  Phoibos  gave  to  the  Asklepiadai ; 

Cutting  the  roots  of  many  a  virtuous  herb 

To  solace  overburdened  mortals.     None  ! 

Of  this  sole  goddess,  never  may  we  go 

To  altar  nor  to  image ;  sacrifice 

She  hears  not.     All  to  pray  for  is,  —  '  Approach  ! 

But,  oh,  no  harder  on  me,  awful  one, 

Than  heretofore  !     Let  life  endure  thee  still ! 

For,  whatsoe'er  Zeus'  nod  decree,  that  same 

In  concert  with  thee  hath  accomplishment. 

Iron,  the  very  stuff  o'  the  Chaluboi, 

Thou  by  sheer  strength  dost  conquer  and  subdue ; 

Nor,  of  that  harsh  abrupt  resolve  of  thine, 

Any  relenting  is  there  ! ' 


Il8  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  O  my  king  ! 
Thee  also,  in  the  shackles  of  those  hands, 
Unshunnable,  the  goddess  grasped  !     Yet,  bear  ! 
Since  never  wilt  thou  lead  from  underground 
The  dead  ones,  wail  thy  worst  !     If  mortals  die,  - 
The  very  children  of  immortals,  too. 
Dropped  'mid  our  darkness,  these  decay  as  sure  ! 
Dear  indeed  was  she  while  among  us :  dear, 
Now  she  is  dead,  must  she  forever  be  : 
Thy  portion  was  to  clasp,  within  thy  couch. 
The  noblest  of  all  women  as  a  wife. 
Nor  be  the  tomb  of  her  supposed  some  heap 
That  hides  mortality  :  but  like  the  gods 
Honored,  a  veneration  to  a  world 
Of  wanderers  !     Oft  the  wanderer,  struck  thereby, 
Who  else  had  sailed  past  in  his  merchant-ship, 
Ay,  he  shall  leave  ship,  land,  long  wind  his  way 
Up  to  the  mountain-summit,  till  there  break 
Speech  forth,  '  So,  this  was  she,  then,  died  of  old 
To  save  her  husband  !  now  a  deity 
She  bends  above  us.     Hail,  benignant  one  ! 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  1 19 

Give  good ! '     Such  voices  so  will  supplicate. 

But  —  can  it  be  ?     Alkmene's  offspring  comes, 

Admetos  !  —  to  thy  house  advances  here  !  " 

I  doubt  not,  they  supposed  him  decently 

Dead  somewhere  in  that  winter  world  of  Thrace  — 

Vanquished  by  one  o'  the  Bistones,  or  else 

Victim  to  some  mad  steed's  voracity  — 

For  did  not  friends  prognosticate  as  much  ? 

It  were  a  new  example  to  the  point. 

That  "  children  of  immortals,  dropped  by  stealth 

Into  our  darkness,  die  as  sure  as  we  !  " 

A  case  to  quote  and  comfort  people  with  : 

But,  as  for  lamentation,  ai  zndpheu, 

Right-minded  subjects  kept  them  for  their  lord. 

Ay,  he  it  was  advancing !     In  he  strode, 

And  took  his  stand  before  Admetos,  —  turned 

Now  by  despair  to  such  a  quietude. 

He  neither  raised  his  face  nor  spoke,  this  time, 

The  while  his  friend  surveyed  him  steadily. 

That  friend  looked  rough  with  fi^htins: :  had  he  sti'ained 


I20  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Worst  brute  to  breast  was  ever  strangled  yet  ? 
Somehow,  a  victory  —  for  there  stood  the  strength, 
Happy,  as  always  ;  something  grave,  perhaps  ; 
The  great  vein-cordage  on  the  fret-worked  brow, 
Black-swollen,  beaded  yet  with  battle-drops 
The  yellow  hair  o'  the  hero  !  —  his  big  frame 
A-quiver  with  each  muscle  sinking  back 
Into  the  sleepy  smooth  it  leaped  from  late. 
Under  the  great  guard  of  one  arm,  there  leant 
A  shrouded  something,  live  and  woman-like, 
Propped  by  the  heart-beats  'neath  the  lion-coat. 
When  he  had  finished  his  survey,  it  seemed, 
The  heavings  of  the  heart  began  subside, 
The  helping  breath  returned,  and  last  the  smile 
Shone  out,  all  Herakles  was  back  again. 
As  the  words  followed  the  saluting  hand. 

"  To  friendly  man,  behooves  we  freely  speak, 
Admetos  !  —  nor  keep  buried,  deep  in  breast. 
Blame  we  leave  silent.     I  assuredly 
Judged  myself  proper,  if  I  should  approach 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  121 

By  accident  calamities  of  thine, 
To  be  demonstrabl}'  thy  friend  :  but  thou 
Told'st  me  not  of  the  corpse  then  claiming  care, 
That  was  thy  wife's,  but  didst  instal  me  guest 
r  the  house  here,  as  if  busied  with  a  grief 
Indeed,  but  then,  mere  grief  beyond  thy  gate  : 
And  so,  I  crowned  my  head,  and  to  the  gods         « 
Poured  my  libations  in  thy  dwelling-place, 
With  such  misfortune  round  me.     And  I  blame  — 
Certainly  blame  thee,  having  suffered  thus  ! 
But  still  I  would  not  pain  thee,  pained  enough  : 
So  let  it  pass  !     "Wherefore  I  seek  thee  now,  . 
Having  turned  back  again  though  onward  bound. 
That  I  will  tell  thee.     Take  and  keep  for  me 
This  woman,  till  I  come  thy  way  again. 
Driving  before  me,  having  killed  the  king 
O'  the  Bistones,  that  drove  of  Thracian  Steeds  : 
In  that  case,  give  the  woman  back  to  me  ! 
But  should  I  fare,  —  as  fare  I  fain  would  not, 
Seeing  I  hope  to  prosper  and  return,  — 
Then,  I  bequeath  her  as  thy  household  slave. 


12  2  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

She  came  into  my  hands  with  good  hard  toil  ! 

For,  what  find  I,  when  started  on  my  course, 

But  certain  people,  a  whole  countiy-side. 

Holding  a  wrestling-bout?  as  good  to  me 

As  a  new  labor :  whence  I  took,  and  here 

Come  keeping  with  me,  this,  the  victor's  prize. 

For,  such  as  conquered  in  the  easy  work. 

Gained  horses  which  they  drove  away :  and  such 

As  conquered  in  the  harder,  —  those  who  boxed 

And  wrestled,  —  cattle  ;  and,  to  crown  the  prize, 

A  woman  followed.     Chancing  as  I  did. 

Base  were  it  to  forego  this  fame  and  gain  ? 

Well,  as  I  said,  I  trust  her  to  thy  care : 

No  woman  I  have  kidnapped,  understand  ! 

But  good  hard  toil  has  done  it :  here  I  come  ! 

Some  day,  who  knows  ?  even  thou  wilt  praise  the  feat ! 

Admetos  raised  his  face  and  eyed  the  pair: 
Then,  hollowly  and  with  submission,  spoke, 
And  spoke  again,  and  spoke  time  after  time. 
When  he  perceived  the  silence  of  his  friend 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  123 

Would  not  be  broken  by  consenting  word. 
As  a  tired  slave  goes  adding  stone  to  stone 
Until  he  stop  some  current  that  molests, 
So  poor  Admetos  piled  up  argument 
Vainly  against  the  purpose,  all  too  plain 
In  that  great  brow  acquainted  with  command. 

"  Nowise  dishonoring,  nor  'mid  my  foes 
Ranking  thee,  did  I  hide  my  wife's  ill  fate. 
But  it  were  grief  superimposed  on  grief, 
Should'st  thou  have  hastened  to  another  home. 
My  ovv'n  woe  was  enough  for  me  to  weep  ! 
But,  for  this  woman,  —  if  it  so  may  be,  — 
Bid  some  Thessalian,  —  I  entreat  thee,  king!  — 
Keep  her,  —  who  has  not  suffered  like  myself! 
Many  of  the  Pheraioi  welcome  thee  ! 
Be  no  reminder  to  me  of  my  ills  ! 
I  could  not,  if  I  saw  her  come  to  live, 
Restrain  the  tear  !     Inflict  on  me,  diseased. 
No  new  disease  :  woe  bends  me  down  enough  ! 
Then,  where  could  she  be  sheltered  in  my  house. 


124  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Female  and  young  too  ?     For  that  she  is  young, 

The  vesture  and  adornment  prove.     Reflect ! 

Should  such  an  one  inhabit  the  same  roof 

With  men  ?     And  how,  mixed  up,  a  girl,  with  youths, 

Shall  she  keep  pure,  in  that  case  ?     No  light  task 

To  curb  the  May-day  youngster,  Herakles  ! 

I  only  speak  because  of  care  for  thee  ! 

Or  must  I,  in  avoidance  of  such  harm, 

Make  her  to  enter,  lead  her  life  within 

The  chamber  of  the  dead  one,  all  apart  ? 

How  shall  I  introduce  this  other  couch. 

This  where  Alkestis  lay  ?     A  double  blame 

I  apprehend  :  first,  from  the  citizens  — 

Lest  some  tongue  of  them  taunt  that  I  betray 

My  benefactress,  fall  into  the  snare 

Of  a  new  fresh  face  :  th^n,  the  dead  one's  self,  — 

Will  she  not  blame  me  likewise  ?     Worthy,  sure, 

Of  worship  from  mc  1  circumspect,  my  ways, 

And  jealous  of  a  fLiult,  are  bound  to  be. 

But  thou,  —  O  woman  !  whosoe'er  thou  ait,  — 

Know,  thou  hast  all  the  form,  art  like  as  like 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  1 25 

Alkestis,  in  the  bodily  shape  !     Ah,  me  ! 

Take,  —  by  the  gods  !  — this  woman  from  my  sight. 

Lest  thou  undo  me,  the  undone  before  ! 

Since  I  seem  —  seeing  her — as  if  I  saw 

My  own  wife  !     And  confusions  cloud  my  heart, 

And  from  my  eyes  the  springs  break  forth  !     Ah,  me 

Unhappy  !  —  how  I  taste  for  the  first  time 

My  misery  in  all  its  bitterness  !  " 

Whereat  the  friends  conferred  :  "  The  chance,  in  truth. 

Was  an  untoward  one  —  none  said  otherwise. 

Still,  what  a  god  comes  giving,  good  or  bad. 

That,  one  should  take  and  bear  with.     Take  her,  then  !  " 

Herakles,  —  not  unfastening  his  hold 

On  that  same  misery,  bej^ond  mistake 

Hoarse  in  the  words,  convulsive  in  the  face,  — 

"  I  would  that  I  had  such  a  power,"  said  he, 

"  As  to  lead  up  into  the  light  again 

Thy  ver}f  wife,  and  grant  thee  such  a  grace  !  " 


126  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 


"  Well  do  I  know  thou  would'st :  but  where  the  hope  ? 
There  is  no  bringing  back  the  dead  to  light." 


"  Be  not  extravagant  in  grief,  no  less  ! 
Bear  it,  by  augury  of  better  things  !  " 

"  'Tis  easier  to  advise  '  bear  up,'  than  bear !  " 

"  But  how  carve  way  i'  the  life  that  lies  before, 
If  bent  on  groaning  ever  for  the  past  ?  " 

"  I  myself  know  that :  but  a  certain  love 
Allures  me  to  the  choice  I  shall  not  change." 

"  Ay,  but,  still  loving  dead  ones,  still  makes  weep  !  '■ 

"  And  let  it  be  so!     She  has  ruined  me, 
And  still  more  than  I  say  :  that  answers  aU." 

"  Oh,  thou  hast  lost  a  brave  wife  !  who  disputes  ? " 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  127 

"  So  brave  a  one  —  that  he  whom  thou  behold'st 
Will  never  more  enjoy  his  life  again  !  " 

"  Time  will  assuage  !     The  evil  yet  is  young !  " 

"  Time,  thou  may'st  say,  will ;  if  time  mean  to  die." 

'  A  wife  —  the  longing  for  new  marriage-joys 
Will  stop  thy  sorrow  !  " 

"  Hush,  friend,  —  hold  thy  peace  ! 
What  hast  thou  said  !     I  could  not  credit  ear  !  " 

"  How  then  ?     Thou  wilt  not  marry,  then,  but  keep 
A  widowed  couch  ?  " 

"  There  is  not  any  one 
Of  womankind  shall  couch  with  whom  thou  seest !  " 

"  Dost  think  to  profit  thus  in  any  way 
The  dead  one  ?  " 

"  Her,  wherever  she  abide, 
My  duty  is  to  honor." 


12  8  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

"  And  I  praise  — 
Indeed  I  praise  thee !     Still,  thou  hast  to  pay 
The  price  of  it,  in  being  held  a  fool !  " 

"  Fool  call  me  —  only  one  name  call  me  not ! 
Bridegroom !  " 

"  No :  it  was  praise,  I  portioned  thee, 
Of  being  good  true  husband  to  thy  wife  !  " 

"  When  I  betray  her  though  she  is  no  more, 
May  I  die  !  " 

And  the  thing  he  said  was  true  ; 
For  out  of  Herakles  a  great  glow  broke. 
There  stood  a  victor  worthy  of  a  prize  : 
The  violet-crown  that  withers  on  the  brow 
Of  the  half-hearted  claimant.     Oh,  he  knew 
The  signs  of  battle  hard  fought  and  well  won. 
This  queller  of  the  monsters  !  —  knew  his  friend 
Planted  firm  foot,  now,  on  the  loathly  thing 
That  was  Admetos  late  !  "  would  die,"  he  knew, 
Ere  let  the  reptile  raise  its  crest  again. 


BALAUSriON'S  ADVENTURE.  129 

If  that  was  truth,  why  try  the  true  friend  more  ? 

"  Then,  since  thou  canst  be  faithful  to  the  death, 
Take,  deep  into  thy  house,  my  dame  !  "  smiled  he. 

"  Not  so  !  —  I  pray,  by  thy  Progenitor !  " 

"  Thou  wilt  mistake  in  disobeying  me ! " 

"  Obeying  thee,  I  have  to  break  my  heart !  " 

"  Obey  me  !  Who  knows  but  the  favor  done 
May  fall  into  its  place  as  duty  too  ?  " 

So,  he  was  humble,  would  decline  no  more 
Bearing  a  burden  :  he  just  sighed,  "  Alas  ! 
Wouldst  thou  hadst  never  brought  this  prize  from  game  !  " 

"  Yet,  when  I  conquered  there,  thou  conqueredst !  " 

"  All  excellently  urged  !      Yet  —  spite  of  all, 


130  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Bear  with  me  !  let  the  woman  go  away  !  " 

"  She  shall  go,  if  needs  must:  but  ere  she  go, 
See  if  there  is  need !  " 

"  Need  there  is !     At  least, 
Except  I  make  thee  angry  with  me,  so  !  " 

"  But  I  persist,  because  I  have  my  spice 
Of  intuition  likewise :  take  the  dame  !  " 

"  Be  thou  the  victor,  then  !     But  certainly 
Thou  dost  thy  friend  no  pleasure  in  the  act !  " 

"  Oh,  time   will   come   when   thou    shalt    praise    me ! 

Now  — 
Only  obey  !  " 

"  Then,  servants,  since  my  house 
Must  needs  receive  this  woman,  take  her  there !  " 

"  I  shall  not  trust  this  woman  to  the  care 
Of  servants." 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  131 

"  Why,  conduct  her  in  thyself, 
If  that  seem  preferable  !  " 

"  I  prefer, 
With  thy  good  leave,  to  place  her  in  thy  hands  !  " 

"  I  would  not  touch  her !  Entry  to  the  house  — 
That,  I  concede  thee." 

"  To  thy  sole  right-hand, 
I  mean  to  trust  her  !  " 

"  King  !  Thou  wrenchest  this 
Out  of  me  by  main  force,  if  I  submit !  " 

"  Courage,  friend  !     Come,  stretch  hand  forth  !     Good  ! 

Now  touch 
The  stranger-woman  ! " 

"  There  !     A  hand  I  stretch  — 
As  though  it  meant  to  cut  off  Gorgon's  head  !  " 

"  Hast  hold  of  her  ? "  " 

"  Fast  hold." 

"  Why,  then,  hold  fast 
And  have  her  !  and,  one  day,  asseverate 


132  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Thou  wilt,  I  think,  thy  friend,  the  son  of  Zeus, 
He  was  the  gentle  guest  to  entertain  ! 
Look  at  her  !     See  if  she,  in  any  way, 
Present  thee  with  resemblance  of  thy  wife ! 

Ah,  but  the  tears  come,  find  the  words  at  fault ! 
There  is  no  telling  how  the  hero  twitched 
The  veil  off  :  and  there  stood,  with  such  fixed  eyes 
And  such  slow  smile,  Alkestis'  silent  self  ! 
It  was  the  crowning  grace  of  that  great  heart, 
To  keep  back  joy:  procrastinate  the  truth 
Until  the  wife,  who  had  made  proof  and  found 
The  husband  wanting,  might  essay  once  more, 
Hear,  see,  and  feel  him  renovated  now  — 
Able  to  do,  now,  all  herself  had  done. 
Risen  to  the  height  of  her :  so,  hand  in  hand, 
The  two  might  go  together,  live  and  die. 

Beside,  when  he  found  speech,  you  guess  the  speech. 
He  could  not  think  he  saw  his  wife  again  : 
It  was  some  mocking  god  that  used  the  bliss 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  133 

To  make  him  mad  !     Till  Herakles  must  help  : 

Assure  him  that  no  spectre  mocked  at  all  ; 

He  was  embracing  whom  he  buried  once. 

Still,  —  did  he  touch,  might  he  address  the  true,  — 

True  eye,  true  body,  of  the  true  live  wife  ? 

And  Herakles  said,  smiling  "  All  was  truth. 

Spectre  ?     Admetos  had  not  made  his  guest 

One  who  played  ghost-invoker,  or  such  cheat ! 

Oh,  he  might  speak  and  have  response,  in  time  ! 

All  heart  could  wish  was  gained  now  —  life  for  death : 

Only,  the  rapture  must  not  grow  immense  : 

Take  care,  nor  wake  the  envy  of  the  gods !  " 

"  O  thou,  of  greatest  Zeus  true  son  ! "  —  so  spoke 
Admetos  when  the  closing  word  must  come, 
"  Go  ever  in  a  glory  of  success. 
And  save,  that  sire,  his  offspring  to  the  end  ! 
For  thou  hast  —  only  thou  —  raised  me  and  mine 
Up  again  to  this  light  and  life  !  "     Then  asked 
Tremblingly,  how  was  trod  the  j^erilous  path 


134  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Out  of  the  dark  into  the  light  and  life : 
How  it  had  happened  with  Alkestis  there. 

And  Herakles  said  little,  but  enough  — 

How  he  engaged  in  combat  with  ihat  king 

O'  the  demons  :  how  the  field  of  contest  lay 

By  the  tomb's  self:  how  he  sprang  from  ambuscade, 

Captured  Death,  caught  him  in  that  pair  of  hands. 

But  all  the  time,  Alkestis  moved  not  once 
Out  of  the  set  gaze  and  the  silent  smile ; 
And  a  cold  fear  ran  through  Admetos'  frame  : 
"  Why  does  she  stand  and  front  me,  silent  thus  ? " 

Herakles  solemnly  replied,  "  Not  yet 

Is  it  allowable  thou  hear  the  things 

She  has  to  tell  thee :  let  evanish  quite 

That  consecration  to  the  lower  gods. 

And  on  our  upper  world  the  third  day  rise  ! 

Lead  her  in,  meanwhile  ;  good  and  true  thou  art, 

Good,  true,  remain  lliou  !     Fraclise  piety 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  135 

To  stranger-guests  the  old  way  !     So,  farewell ! 
Since  forth  I  fare,  fulfil  my  urgent  task 
Set  by  the  king,  the  son  of  Sthenelos." 
Fain  would  Admetos  keep  that  splendid  smile 
Ever  to  light  him.     "  Stay  with  us-,  thou  heart ! 
Remain  our  house-friend  !  " 

"  At  some  other  day ! 
Now,  of  necessity,  I  haste  !  "  smiled  he. 

"  But  may'st  thou  prosper,  go  forth  on  a  foot 
Sure  to  return  !     Through  all  the  tetrarchy, 
Command  my  subjects  that  they  institute 
Thanksgiving-dances  for  the  glad  event, 
And  bid  each  altar  smoke  with  sacrifice  ! 
For  we  are  minded  to  begin  a  fresh 
Existence,  better  than  the  life  before  ; 
Seeing,  I  own  myself  supremely  blest." 

Whereupon  all  the  friendly  moralists 

Drew  this  conclusion  :  chirped,  each  beard  to  each : 

"  Manifold  are  thy  shapings.  Providence  ! 


136  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Many  a  hopeless  matter  gods  arrange. 

What  we  expected,  never  came  to  pass  : 

What  we  did  not  expect,  gods  brought  to  bear  ; 

So  have  things  gone,  this  whole  experience  through  J  " 


Ah,  but  if  you  had  seen  the  play  itself ! 

They  say,  my  poet  failed  to  get  the  prize  : 

Sophokles  got  the  prize,  —  great  name  !     They  say, 

Sophokles  also  means  to  make  a  piece. 

Model  a  new  Admetos,  a  new  wife  : 

Success  to  him  !     One  thing  has  many  sides. 

The  great  name  !     But  no  good  supplants  a  good, 

Nor  beauty  undoes  beauty.     Sophokles 

Will  carve  and  carry  a  fresh  cup,  brimful 

Of  beauty  and  good,  firm  to  the  altar-foot, 

And  glorify  the  Dionusiac  shrine  : 

Not  clash  against  this  crater,  in  the  place 

^Vhere  the  god  put  it  when  his  mouth  had  drained, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  137 

To  the  last  dregs,  libation  life-blood-like, 

And  praised  Euripides  for  evermore  — 

The  Human  with  his  droppings  of  ivann  tears. 

Still,  since  one  thing  may  have  so  many  sides, . 

I  think  I  see  how,  —  far  from  Sophokles,  — 

You,  I,  or  any  one,  might  mould  a  new 

Admetos,  new  Alkestis.     Ah,  that  brave 

Bounty  of  poets,  the  one  royal  race 

That  ever  was,  or  will  be,  in  this  world  ! 

They  give  no  gift  that  bounds  itself,  and  ends 

r  the  giving  and  the  taking:  theirs  so  breeds 

r  the  heart  and  soul  o'  the  taker,  so  transmutes 

The  man  who  only  was  a  man  before. 

That  he  grows  god-like  in  his  turn,  can  give  — 

He  also :  share  the  poet's  privilege. 

Bring  forth  new  good,  new  beauty,  from  the  old. 

As  though  the  cup  that  gave  the  wine,  gave,  too, 

The  god's  prolific  giver  of  the  grape. 

That  vine,  was  wont  to  find  out,  fawn  around 

His  footstep,  springing  still  to  bless  the  dearth, 


138  BALAUSTJON'S  ADVENTURE. 

At  bidding  of  a  Mainad.     So  with  me  : 
For  I  have  drunk  this  poem,  quenched  my  thirst, 
Satisfied  heart  and  soul  —  yet  more  remains  ! 
Could  we  too  make  a  poem  ?     Try  at  least, 
Inside  the  head,  what  shape  the  rose-mists  take  ! 

When  God  Apollon  took,  for  punishment, 
A  mortal  form,  and  sold  himself  a  slave 
To  King  Admetos  till  a  term  should  end,  — 
Not  only  did  he  make,  in  servitude, 
Such  music,  while  he  fed  the  flocks  and  herds. 
As  saved  the  pasturage  from  wrong  or  fright. 
Curing  rough  creatures  of  ungentleness  : 
Much  more  did  that  melodious  wisdom  work 
Within  the  heart  o'  the  master :  there,  ran  wild 
Many  a  lust  and  greed  that  grow  to  strength 
By  preying  on  the  native  pity  and  care, 
Would  else,  all  undisturbed,  possess  the  land. 

And  these,  the  god  so  tamed,  with  golden  tongue. 
That,  in  the  plenitude  of  youth  and  power, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  139 

Admetos  vowed  himself  to  rule  thenceforth 
In  Pherai  solely  for  his  people's  sake, 
Subduing  to  such  end  each  lust  and  greed 
That  dominates  the  natural  charity. 

And  so  the  struggle  ended.     Right  ruled  might : 

And  soft  yet  brave,  and  good  yet  wise,  the  man 

Stood  up  to  be  a  monarch  ;  having  learned 

The  worth  of  life,  life's  worth  would  he  bestow 

On  all  whose  lot  was  cast,  to  live  or  die, 

As  he  determined  for  the  multitude. 

So  stands  a  statue  :  pedestalled  sublime. 

Only  that  it  may  wave  the  thunder  off. 

And  ward,  from  winds  that  vex,  a  world  below. 

And  then,  —  as  if  a  whisper  found  its  way 

E'en  to  the  sense  o'  the  marble,  —  "  Vain  thy  vow ! 

The  royalty  of  its  resolve,  that  head 

Shall  hide  within  the  dust  ere  day  be  done : 

That  arm,  its  outstretch  of  beneficence, 

Shall  have  a  speedy  ending  on  the  earth : 


14°  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Lie  patient,  prone,  while  light  some  cricket  leaps 

And  takes  possession  of  the  masterpiece, 

To  sit,  sing  louder  as  more  near  the  sun. 

For  why?    A  flaw  was  in  the  pedestal ; 

Who   knows  ?     A  worm's  work !      Sapped,  the   certain 

fate 
O'  the  statue  is  to  fall,  and  thine  to  die  !  " 
Whereat  the  monarch,  calm,  addressed  himself 
To  die,  but  bitterly  the  soul  outbroke  — 
"  O  prodigality  of  life,  blind  waste 
I'  the  world,  of  power  profuse  without  the  will 
To  make  life  do  its  work,  deserve  its  day  ! 
My  ancestors  pursued  their  pleasure,  poured 
The  blood  o'  the  people  out  in  idle  war, 
Or  took  occasion  of  some  weary  peace 
To  bid  men  dig  down  deep  or  build  up  high. 
Spend  bone  and  marrow  that  the  king  might  feast 
Intrenched  and  buttressed  from  the  vulgar  gaze. 
Yet  they  all  lived,  nay,  lingered  to  old  age : 
As  though  Zeus  loved  that  they  should  laugh  to  scorn 
The  vanity  of  seeking  other  ends, 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  141 

In  rule,  than  just  the  ruler's  pastime.     They 
Lived  ;  I  must  die." 

And,  as  some  long  last  moan 
Of  a  minor  suddenly  is  propped  beneath 
By  note  which,  new-struck,  turns  the  wail,  that  was, 
Into  a  wonder  and  a  triumph,  so 
Began  Alkestis  :  "  Nay,  thou  art  to  live  ! 
The  glory  that,  in  the  disguise  of  flesh, 
Was  helpful  to  our  house,  —  he  prophesied 
The  coming  fate  :    whereon,  I  pleaded  sore 
That  he,  —  I  guessed  a  god,  who  to  his  couch 
Amid  the  clouds  must  go  and  come  again. 
While  we  were  darkling,  —  since  he  loved  us  both, 
He  should  permit  thee,  at  whatever  price, 
To  live  and  carry  out  to  heart's  content 
Soul's  purpose,  turn  each  thought  to  very  deed, 
Nor  let  Zeus  lose  the  monarch  meant  in  thee. 

To  which  Apollon,  with  a  sunset  smile, 
Sadly —  'And  so  should  mortals  arbitrate  ! 


142  BALAUSTION'S   ADVENTURE. 

'  It  were  unseemly  if  they  aped  us  gods, 
And,  mindful  of  our  chain  of  Consequence, 
Lost  care  of  the  immediate  earthly  link : 
Forewent  the  comfort  of  life's  little  hour. 
In  prospect  of  some  cold  abysmal  blank 
Alien  eternity,  —  unlike  the  time 
They  know,  and  understand  to  practise  with,  — 
No,  —  our  eternity,  —  no  heart's  blood,  bright 
And  warm  outpoured  in  its  behoof,  would  tinge 
Never  so  palely,  warm  a  whit  the  more ; 
Whereas  retained  and  treasured  —  left  to  beat 
Joyously  on,  a  life's  length,  in  the  breast 
O'  the  loved  and  loving,  — it  would  throb  itself 
Through,  and  suffuse  the  earthly  tenement, 
Transform  it,  even  as  your  mansion  here 
Is  love-transformed  into  a  temple-home 
Where  I,  a  god,  forget  the  Olumpian  glow, 
r  the  feel  of  human  richness  like  the  rose  ; 
Your  hopes  and  fears,  so  blind  and  yet  so  sweet, 
With  death  about  them.     Therefore,  well  in  thee 
To  look,  not  on  eternity,  but  time  : 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  14: 

To  apprehend  that,  should  Admetos  die, 
All  we  gods  purposed  in  him  dies  as  sure : 
That,  life's  link  snapping,  all  our  chain  is  lost. 
And  yet  a  mortal  glance  might  pierce,  methinks, 
Deeper  into  the  seeming  dark  of  things, 
And  learn,  no  fruit,  man's  life  can  bear,  will  fade  : 
Learn,  if  Admetos  die  now,  so  much  more 
Will  pity  for  the  frailness  found  in  flesh, 
Will  terror  at  the  earthly  chance  and  change 
Frustrating  wisest  scheme  of  noblest  soul, 
Will  these  go  wake  the  seeds  of  good  asleep 
Throughout  the  world  :  as  oft  a  rough  wind  sheds 
The  unripe  promise  of  some  field-flower,  —  true  ! 
But  loosens  too  the  level,  and  lets  breathe 
A  thousand  captives  for  the  year  to  come. 
Nevertheless,  obtain  thy  prayer,  stay  fate  ? 
Admetos  lives  —  if  thou  wilt  die  for  him  I ' 

So  was  the  pact  concluded  that  I  die, 
And  thou  live  on,  live  for  thyself,  for  me, 
For  all  the  world.     Embrace  and  bid  me  hail, 


144  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Husband,  because  I  have  the  victory  : 

Am  heart,  soul,  head  to  foot,  one  happiness  !  " 

Whereto  Admetos,  in  a  passionate  cry, 

"  Never,  by  that  true  word  Apollon  spoke  ! 

All  the  unwise  wish  is  unwished,  O  wife  ! 

Let  purposes  of  Zeus  fulfil  themselves, 

If  not  through  me,  then  through  some  other  man ! 

Still,  in  myself  he  had  a  purpose  too. 

Inalienably  mine,  to  end  with  me  : 

This  purpose  —  that,  throughout  my  earthly  life. 

Mine  should  be  mingled  and  made  up  witli  thine,  • 

And  we  two  prove  one  force,  and  play  one  part, 

And  do  one  thing.     Since  death  divides  the  pair, 

'Tis  well  that  I  depart,  and  thou  remain 

Who  wast  to  me  as  spirit  is  to  flesh  : 

Let  the  flesh  perish,  be  perceived  no  more, 

So  thou,  the  spirit  that  informed  the  flesh. 

Bend  yet  a  while,  a  very  flame  above 

The  rift  I  drop  into  the  darkness  by, — 

And  bid  remember,  flesh  and  spirit  once 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  I45 

Worked  in  the  world,  one  body,  for  man's  sake. 
Never  be  that  abominable  show 
Of  passive  death,  without  a  quickening  life  — 
Admetos  only,  no  Alkestis  now ! " 

Then  she,  "  O  thou  Admetos  !  must  the  pile 
Of  truth  on  truth,  which  needs  but  one  truth  more 
To  tower  up  in  completeness,  trophy-like, 
Emprize  of  man,  and  triumph  of  the  world, 
Must  it  go  ever  to  the  ground  again 
Because  of  some  faint  heart  or  faltering  hand, 
'Which  we,  that  breathless  world  about  the  base, 
Trusted  should  carry  safe  to  altitude, 
Superimpose  o'  the  summit  our  supreme 
Achievement,  our  victorious  coping-stone  ? 
Shall  thine,  Beloved,  prove  the  hand  and  heart 
That  fail  again,  flinch  backward  at  tlie  truth 
Would  cap  and  crown  the  structure  this  last  time,  — 
Precipitate  our  monumental  hope 
To  strew  the  earth  ignobly  yet  once  more  ? 
See  how,  truth  piled  on  truth,  the  structure  wants, 
7 


146  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Waits  just  the  crowning  truth  I  claim  of  thee ! 

Wouldst  thou,  for  any  joy  to  be  enjoyed, 

For  any  sorrow  that  thou  raightst  escape, 

Unwill  thy  will  to  reign  a  righteous  king  ? 

Nowise  !     And  were  there  two  lots,  death  and  life,  - 

Life,  wherein  good  resolve  should  go  to  air, 

Death,  whereby  finest  fancy  grew  plain  fact 

r  the  reign  of  thy  survivor,  life  or  death  ? 

Certainly  death,  thou  choosest.     Here  stand  I 

The  wedded,  the  beloved :  hadst  thou  loved 

One  who  less  worthily  could  estimate 

Both  life  and  death  than  thou  ?     Not  so  should  say 

Admetos,  who  ApoUon  made  come  court 

Alkestis  in  a  car,  submissive  brutes 

Of  blood  were  yoked  to,  symbolizing  soul 

Must  dominate  unruly  sense  in  man. 

Then  shall  Admetos  and  Alkestis  see 

Good  alike,  and  alike  choose,  each  for  each. 

Good,  —  and  yet,  each  for  the  other,  at  the  last, 

Choose  evil  ?     What?  thou  soundest  in  my  soul 

To  depths  below  the  deepest,  reachest  good 


BALAUSTION'S    ADVENTURE.  147 

In  evil,  that  makes  evil  good  again, 
And  so  allottest  to  me  that  I  live 
And  not  die  —  letting  die,  not  thee  alone, 
But  all  true  life  that  lived  in  both  of  us  ? 
Look  at  me  once  ere  thou  decree  the  lot !  " 

Therewith  her  whole  soul  entered  into  his, 
He  looked  the  look  back,  and  Alkestis  died. 

And  even  while  it  lay,  i'  the  look  of  him. 

Dead,  the  dimmed  body,  bright  Alkestis'  soul 

Had  penetrated  through  the  populace 

Of  ghosts,  was  got  to  Korc,  — throned  and  crowned 

The  pensive  queen  o'  the  twilight,  where  she  dwells 

Forever  in  a  muse,  but  half  away 

From'  flowery  earth  she  lost  and  hankers  for,  — 

And  there  demanded  to  become  a  ghost 

Before  the  time. 

Whereat  the  softened  eyes 
Of  the  lost  maidenhood  that  lincrered  still 


148  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Straying  among  the  flowers  in  Sicily, 
Sudden  was  startled  back  to  Hades'  throne, 
By  that  demand  :  broke  through  humanity 
Into  the  orbed  omniscience  of  a  god, 
Searched  at  a  glance  Alkestis  to  the  soul. 
And  said  —  while  a  long  slow  sigh  lost  itself 
I'  the  hard  and  hollow  passage  of  a  laugh  : 

"  Hence,  thou  deceiver  !     This  is  not  to  die, 

If,  by  the  very  death  which  mocks  me  now, 

The  life,  that's  left  behind  and  past  my  power, 

Is  formidably  doubled.     Sa}',  there  fight 

Two  athletes,  side  by  side,  each  athlete  armed 

With  only  half  the  weapons,  and  no  more,  • 

Adequate  to  a  contest  with  their  foe  : 

If  one  of  these  should  fling  helm,  sword,  and  shield 

To  fellow  —  shieldless,  swordless,  helmless  late  — 

And  so  leap  naked  o'er  the  barrier,  leave 

A  combatant  equipped  from  head  to  heel 

Yet  cry  to  the  other  side,  '  Receive  a  friend 


BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE.  I49 

Who  fights  no  longer ! '     '  Back,  friend,  to  the  fi'ay  ! ' 
Would  be  the  prompt  rebuff;  I  echo  it. 
Two  souls  in  one  were  formidable  odds  : 
Admetos  must  not  be  himself  and  thou  !  " 

And  so,  before  the  embrace  relaxed  a  whit, 
The  lost  eyes  opened,  still  beneath  the  look  ; 
And  lo,  Alkestis  was  alive  again, 
And  of  Admetos'  rapture  who  shall  speak  ? 

So,  the  two  lived  together  long  and  well. 
But  never  could  I  learn,  by  word  of  scribe 
Or  voice  of  poet,  rumor  wafts  our  way, 
That,  —  of  the  scheme  of  rule  in  righteousness. 
The  bringing  back  again  the  Golden  Age, 
Our  couple,  rather  than  renounce,  would  die  — 
Ever  one  first  faint  particle  came  true, 
With  both  alive  to  bring  it  to  effect : 
Such  is  the  en\7  gods  still  bear  mankind  1 

So  might  our  version  of  the  story  prove, 


150  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

And  no  Euripidean  pathos  plague 
Too  much  my  critic-friend  of  Syracuse. 

"  Besides  your  poem  failed  to  get  the  prize  : 
(That  is,  the  first  prize:  second  prize  is  none.) 
Sophokles  got  it !  "     Honor  the  great  name  ! 
All  cannot  love  two  great  names  \  yet  some  do 
I  know  the  poetess  who  graved  in  gold, 
Among  her  glories  that  shall  never  fade, 
This  style  and  title  for  Euripides, 
The  Human  with  his  droppings  of  warm  tears. 

I  know,  too,  a  great  Kaunian  painter,  strong 
As  Herakles,  though  rosy  with  a  robe 
Of  grace  that  softens  down  the  sinewy  strength  : 
And  he  has  made  a  picture  of  it  all. 
There  lies  Alkestis  dead,  beneath  the  sun, 
She  longed  to  look  her  last  upon,  beside 
The  sea,  which  somehow  tempts  the  life  in  us 
To  come  trip  over  its  white  waste  of  waves, 
And  try  escape  from  earth,  and  fleet  as  free. 


BALAUSTJON'S  ADVENTURE.  151 

Behind  the  body,  I  suppose  there  bends 
Old  Pheres  in  his  hoary  impotence  ; 
And  women-wailers,  in  a  corner  crouch 

—  Four,  beautiful  as  you  four  —  3-65,  indeed  !  — 
Close,  each  to  other,  agonizing  all. 

As  fastened,  in  fear's  rhythmic  sympathy. 

To  two  contending  opposite.     There  strains 

The  might  o'  the  hero  'gainst  his  more  than  match, 

—  Death,  dreadful  not  in  thew  and  bone,  but  like 
The  envenomed  substance  that  exudes  some  dew, 
Wliereby  the  merely  honest  flesh  and  blood 

Will  fester  up  and  run  to  ruin  straight, 

Ere  they  can  close  with,  clasp  and  overcome 

The  poisonous  impalpability 

That  simulates  a  form  beneath  the  flow 

Of  those  gray  garments  ;  I  pronounce  that  piece 

Worthy  to  set  up  in  our  Poikile  ! 

And  all  came,  —  glory  of  the  golden  verse, 
And  passion  of  the  picture,  and  that  fine 
Frank  outgush  of  the  human  gratitude 


152  BALAUSTION'S  ADVENTURE. 

Which  saved  our  ship  and  me,  in  Syracuse,  — 
Ay,  and  the  tear  or  two  which  slipt  perhaps 
Away  from  .you,  friends,  while  I  told  my  tale, 
—  It  all  came  of  this  play  that  gained  no  prize  ! 
Why  crown  whom  Zeus  has  crowned  in  soul  before  ? 

THE   END. 


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